Imran Khan Sentenced to 10 Years in Jail
Agencies – Sudan Events
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in jail, state media and a spokesman for his party said, in a controversial case related to a leaked document.
The sentence, handed down following a trial held inside the jail where Khan has been detained for much of the time since his arrest in August, comes as the country heads to the polls on February 8.
“Former Prime Minister Imran Khan and PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) vice-president (Shah Mahmood) Qureshi have been sentenced to 10 years each inside prison in the cypher case,” said a spokesman for the party.
The case centres around how the pair handled a so-called “cypher” sent by Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States that alleged Washington was complicit in a plot to turf Khan from office in 2022.
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, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician. Other charges range from contempt of court to terrorism and inciting violence.
Khan is alleged to have waved a confidential document during a rally after he was toppled as premier, claiming that it was proof he was being threatened and that his ouster was a US conspiracy, allegedly executed by the military and the government in Pakistan.
The document he waved – 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.
