Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to ten years in prison for ‘leaking state secrets’. International news agencies report this. The conviction comes on top of an earlier three-year sentence for corruption, which already excluded Khan (71) from participating in next week’s Pakistani elections.
According to Khan, who was prime minister between 2018 and 2022, the charges against him are intended to neutralize him politically. Former Foreign Minister and party colleague Shah Mahmood Qureshi has also been sentenced to ten years in prison for involvement in the leaks.
Khan was charged for waving a piece of paper at a rally in 2022 that described what he said was a plot to oust him. Khan implied that the plot was orchestrated by the United States. According to prosecutors, by showing the piece of paper, Khan “leaked” secret documents and damaged Pakistan’s diplomatic relations. He has not (yet) been convicted of the latter, the maximum penalty if found guilty is the death penalty.
Since August, Khan has been serving his first three-year sentence in prison. His party PTI protests against the previous and latest verdict, and says it does not accept the court’s decisions.
Also read
Former Prime Minister Khan loses confrontation with Pakistani army