Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 10 years in jail in a case in which he was charged with leaking state secrets.
Khan, who was ousted by his opponents as PM in 2022, is already serving a three-year jail term after being convicted of corruption.
He has called all the charges against him politically motivated.
The conviction under the secrets act comes the week before general elections in which he is barred from standing.
Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi – vice-chairman of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party – was also sentenced to 10 years in prison by the special court.
The so-called cipher case revolves around the alleged leaking of secret diplomatic correspondence sent by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington to Islamabad when Khan was prime minister.
It relates to his appearance at a rally in March 2022, a month before he was ousted from power in a parliamentary vote of no confidence.
Credit: bbc.com
