By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have been sentenced in a landmark corruption case. On Friday, a court handed Khan a 14-year prison sentence.
Detained since August 2023, Khan faced nearly 200 charges. However, his party claims the latest conviction is a tactic to silence him.
“I will neither make any deal nor seek any relief,” Khan told reporters inside the courtroom following his conviction.
The anti-graft court session was held inside the jail near the capital, Islamabad, where Khan is detained. He and his wife were convicted over their involvement in a welfare foundation they co-founded, known as the Al-Qadir Trust.
“The prosecution has proven its case. Khan is convicted,” Judge Nasir Javed Rana stated, sentencing Khan to 14 years and his wife, Bibi, to seven years.
Bibi, who had previously been released on bail, was arrested in court following the conviction, her spokesperson confirmed.
Khan maintains that the cases against him are politically motivated and aimed at preventing his return to power.
The sentencing had been delayed several times over the past month, with analysts suggesting the jail term was being used as leverage to pressure Khan into accepting a deal with the military to withdraw from politics.
Since his ousting in 2022, Khan has led a campaign openly criticising the country’s powerful generals.
Khan previously received four convictions, two of which were overturned, while the other two sentences were suspended. However, he remains imprisoned due to pending cases.
A UN panel of experts last year found that Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office.”
Barred from participating in February’s election, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has faced a widespread crackdown.
