Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been jailed for 14 years, the second sentence handed to Pakistan’s former prime minister in two days. The couple were convicted of illegally profiting from state gifts – just a week before a general election in which he is barred from standing.
Khan, who was ousted as PM by his opponents in 2022, is already serving a three-year jail term for corruption. He has said the numerous cases against him are politically motivated.
Wednesday’s court case revolved around accusations over state gifts that he and his wife received while in office, while Tuesday’s case – for which he was sentenced to 10 years – for leaking classified state documents. It is thought the two sentences will run concurrently, although that has not been confirmed.
The court has also ordered the couple to pay a fine of about 1.5 billion rupees (£4.2m; $5.3m).
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party also said that the sentencing further bans their leader from future political work: he will be disqualified for 10 years from holding public office.
Khan’s lawyers said they would be launching an appeal to Pakistan’s High Court in both cases.
Credit: bbc.com
