Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced to an additional 14 years in prison for corruption charges on Friday. The verdict adds to his existing sentence and fuels ongoing political turmoil in the country. Khan's supporters maintain his innocence and continue to demand his release.
Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan , currently incarcerated since August 2023, received an additional 14-year prison sentence on Friday for corruption charges during a court hearing held at Rawalpindi's Adiala prison. Khan's removal from office in April 2022 via a no-confidence vote marked the beginning of a political comeback thwarted by an onslaught of approximately 200 criminal investigations, many alleging corruption and misuse of power.
Khan's supporters vehemently resisted his arrest, erupting into riots upon his detention. Despite his imprisonment, Khan remains a highly popular political figure in Pakistan, and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party has performed well in elections, weathering considerable pressure from both the political establishment and the military.The latest conviction pertains to the Al Qadir University Project Trust, an organization prosecutors claim functioned as a front for Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, to engage in bribery and influence peddling. The trust was intended to acquire land for a non-profit school catering to underprivileged youth, but prosecutors allege Khan diverted it to receive approximately $239 million from Malik Riaz, a prominent property tycoon. This money had been seized from Riaz and returned to the Pakistani government by the United Kingdom in 2022. The alleged scheme involved Riaz transferring vast tracts of valuable property to Khan's trust, while Khan used the $239 million repatriated by the British government to settle various fines levied against Riaz.Bibi was released from prison in October after serving nine months for illegally selling gifts intended for the Pakistani state during Khan's tenure as prime minister. In November, she spearheaded a massive PTI demonstration in Islamabad demanding Khan's release. Bibi has also cultivated a reputation as a spiritual leader and an expert in Sufi Muslim mysticism. The PTI party maintains that the Al Qadir Trust case lacks a solid foundation and is destined to fail. Khan and Bibi reportedly smiled and laughed when the sentences against them were read. In a social media post following the sentencing, Khan told supporters that the charges were baseless and he would persist in his efforts to secure release. 'I will never accept this dictatorship and I will stay in the prison cell for as long as I have to in the struggle against this dictatorship, but I will not compromise on my principles and the struggle for the true freedom of the nation,' he stated. Khan's lawyer, Faisal Fareed Chaudhry, characterized the decision against his client as a 'bogus persecution,' asserting that Pakistan's anti-corruption authorities 'couldn't establish a loss of even a single penny' in the case. Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar countered by stating to reporters that the evidence against Khan and Bibi in their 'mega corruption scandal' was 'irrefutable.
IMRAN KHAN PAKISTAN CORRUPTION PRISON SENTENCE PTI PARTY POLITICAL CRISIS BUSHRA BIBI AL QADIR UNIVERSITY TRUST PAKISTANI GOVERNMENT NATIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY BUREAU (NAB)
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