Former Pakistani leader Imran Khan sentenced to 10 years for revealing state secrets
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani court Tuesday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and one of his party deputies to 10 years in prison each, after finding them guilty of revealing official secrets. The verdict drew swift criticism from Khan’s followers.
The verdict was another blow to Khan, a former cricket star-turned-Islamist politician, who was ousted through a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022 and is currently serving a three-year prison sentence in a graft case.
According to Zulfiqar Bukhari, a spokesman for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, the court announced the verdict at a prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Authorities said that Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the deputy who also received a 10-year sentence, have the right to appeal Tuesday’s ruling in the case, popularly known as the Cipher case.
Khan’s legal team is expected to appeal the conviction at the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday.
The ruling comes ahead of Feb. 8 parliamentary elections in Pakistan — a vote that Khan is barred from running in because of his previous criminal conviction.
Although Khan will not be on the ballot for the February election, he remains a potent political force because of his grassroots following and anti-establishment rhetoric. He says the legal cases against him were a plot to sideline him ahead of the vote.
Pakistan has seen violent demonstrations since Khan’s arrest in May. Authorities have cracked down on his supporters and party.
This week’s airstrikes between Iran and Pakistan mark a significant escalation in fraught relations between the neighbors.
Pakistan’s independent human rights commission has said there is little chance of a free and fair parliamentary election next month because of “pre-poll rigging.” It also expressed concern about authorities rejecting the candidacies of Khan and senior figures from his party.
The Cipher case is one of more than 150 cases pending against Khan. Other charges include contempt of court, terrorism and inciting violence.
In the secrets case, Khan is alleged to have waved a confidential document — a classified cable — at a rally after he was toppled. The document, dubbed Cipher, has not been made public by either the government or Khan’s lawyers but was apparently diplomatic correspondence between the Pakistani ambassador to Washington and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad.
During the speech, Khan claimed that the document was proof he was being threatened and that his ouster was a U.S. conspiracy carried out by the Pakistani military and government. Washington and Pakistani officials have denied the claim.
Khan’s party said in a statement that it stands with Khan and Qureshi, “who defended Pakistan and stood for real independence.” PTI described the proceedings as a “sham trial” and said the judge did not even allow Khan and Qureshi’s lawyers to defend them.
Police in Pakistan arrested 129 Muslims after a Muslim mob angered over an alleged desecration of the Quran attacked Christian churches and homes.
However, the party asked his supporters to remain peaceful and not resort to violence, pending an appeal of the ruling through legal channels.
“We should harness and channel these energies for the polling day” Feb. 8 to ensure that Khan’s candidates win the vote “with a thumping majority,” said Omar Ayub, a longtime Khan supporter. “PTI will continue its struggle to put Pakistan on a democratic path so that the supremacy of law and the constitution is ensured.”
During the trial, Khan’s party and supporters had feared he could be sentenced to death for treason. Khan has maintained his innocence and says he didn’t disclose the exact contents of the cable. Qureshi was accused of manipulating the contents of a diplomatic cable to gain political advantage.
Political analyst Muhammad Ali said the latest verdict was expected. The two men, in his opinion, had “damaged Pakistan’s diplomatic ties with the United States, and they also embarrassed the then-Pakistani Ambassador Asad Majeed to the United States,” he said.
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