Khan sentenced to 14 years in jail one week before elections

IMRAN KHAN and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 14 years in jail for illegally selling state gifts, his party said on yesterday.

The verdict also included a 10-year disqualification from holding public office, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) said. The couple were also ordered to pay a fine of 757 million Pakistani Rupees (£2.1 million).

It is the embattled former prime minister’s third conviction in the last few months and comes with just over a week to go until Pakistan’s elections.

Mr Khan has been bogged down by dozens of legal cases since he was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in 2022. Mr Khan has been in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail since August. His wife turned herself in to the police shortly after the verdict, the PTI said.

“Another sad day in our judicial system history, which is being dismantled,” Mr Khan’s media team said.

“Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi have faced yet another kangaroo trial in which no right to defence was given to both,” it said in a statement.

Pakistan has a long history of arresting former prime ministers or sidelining them ahead of elections.

Mr Khan’s party says it has been targeted by a military-backed crackdown, with hundreds of supporters, party members and aides being arrested.

The former cricketer remains extremely popular in Pakistan.

“Khan’s popularity is titanium,” said Mosharraf Zaidi, a Pakistani political commentator. “The more the system seeks to diminish his stature the taller he seems to grow.

“Imran Khan may be out of the election this time but his political support base is not going to vanish,” he told