Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife sentenced to prison terms in corruption case

A Pakistani court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years in prison in a land corruption case, a setback in nascent talks between his party and the government aimed at calming political instability in the country. South Asia.

The verdict in the case was delivered by an anti-corruption court in a prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Khan has been imprisoned since August 2023.

Khan's wife, Bushra Bibi, was also convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison. She was out on bail but was taken into custody after the sentencing, Geo News reported.

Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told reporters that Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party could approach the higher courts to appeal the decision, and that the former cricket star could also file a mercy petition with the President of Pakistan.

Omar Ayub, an aide to Khan, said the party would challenge the verdict in higher courts.

Khan, 72, had been charged that he and his wife were offered land by a property developer during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022 in exchange for illegal favors.

Khan and Bibi had pleaded not guilty.

Dispute regarding the purchase of land

The case is linked to the Al-Qadir Trust, a non-governmental social organization that the couple established when Khan was in power.

Prosecutors say the trust was a front for Khan to illegally obtain land from a real estate developer. They said he was given 24 hectares near Islamabad and another large plot of land near his hilltop mansion in the capital.

Khan says the land was not for personal gain, but for the spiritual and educational institution the former prime minister had created.

“While awaiting a detailed decision, it is important to note that the case of Al-Qadir Trust against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi lacks solid foundation and is doomed to failure,” PTI's foreign media arm said in a press release.

Police stand guard around a vehicle carrying Bushra Bibi outside Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi on Friday. (Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images)

The announcement of the verdict was delayed three times, most recently on Monday, amid reconciliation talks between the PTI and the government. The two sides have been at odds since Khan was ousted from office in 2022.

The verdict is the biggest setback for Khan and his party since a surprisingly good performance in the 2024 general elections, when PTI candidates, forced to run as independents, won the most seats but failed to win. did not obtain the majority necessary to form a government.

Imprisoned since August 2023, Khan faces dozens of cases ranging from accusations of corruption and abuse of power to inciting violence against the state after being removed from office in a vote of confidence parliamentary in April 2022.

Khan, who led Pakistan to a world cricket championship in 1992, was either acquitted or had his sentence suspended in most cases except this one and another for inciting his supporters to go wild at military installations to protest his arrest on May 9. 2023.

He has denied any wrongdoing in all cases against him, telling Reuters that the army that has ruled Pakistan for most of its history since independence in 1947 and its intelligence agency were trying to destroy him and his political party.

His supporters have led several violent protest rallies since the May 9 incidents.

Khan's cases were tried in prison due to security concerns.

An increasingly important role for Bushra

Khan and his followers usually call his wife Bushra Bibi or Bushra Begum, titles which denote respect in the Urdu language.

Born Bushra Riaz Watto, she changed her name to Khan after their third marriage in 2018 and her second.

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She usually appears in public with her face covered by a veil, wearing an abaya or flowing black or white dress.

Bushra, who is in her 40s, made headlines around the world when she entered the capital Islamabad last year with thousands of PTI supporters who broke through heavy security barricades.

“You must all promise that until Khan is with us, you will not leave,” Bushra said in his first-ever speech at a public rally.

Highlighting her increasingly active role in the PTI, she insisted on holding the protest in a central and sensitive location, despite Khan's instructions to gather on the outskirts of the capital, according to party officials.

She was released from prison in October after nine months on a charge of illegally selling state gifts.

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