Pakistani court sentences ex-PM Imran Khan and his wife to 14 and 7
years in prison in graft case
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 [January 17, 2025]
By MUNIR AHMED
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani court on Friday sentenced the country’s
already-imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14
and seven years in jail after finding them guilty of corruption,
officials and his lawyer said.
It's yet another blow for the former premier who has been behind the
bars since 2023.
The couple are accused of accepting a gift of land from a real estate
tycoon in exchange for laundered money when Khan was in power.
Prosecutors say the businessman, Malik Riaz, was then allowed by Khan to
pay fines that were imposed on him in another case from the same
laundered money of 190 million British pounds ($240 million) that was
returned to Pakistan by British authorities in 2022 to deposit to the
national exchequer.
Khan has denied wrongdoing and insisted since his arrest in 2023 that
all the charges against him are a plot by rivals to keep him from
returning to office.
Bibi was taken into custody by prison officials after the announcement
of the verdict, according to officials. She had earlier served a prison
sentence in another graft case until she was freed on bail by a court in
October. She recently led a rally to demand her husband's release.
Faisal Chaudhry, a defense lawyer, said the court verdict could be
challenged in the superior courts.
Shortly after the announcement of the verdict, lawmakers from Khan's
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party rallied outside the parliament
in the capital, Islamabad, saying the former premier had been wrongly
punished.
“This is a bogus case, and we will approach an appeals court against
this decision,” said Omar Ayub Khan, a senior party leader who is not
related to the former premier.
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Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, right, with his wife
Bushra Bibi, speaks to the media before signing documents to submit
surety bond over his bails in different cases, at an office of
Lahore High Court in Lahore, Pakistan, on July 17, 2023. (AP Photo/K.M.
Chaudary, File)
Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April
2022, had previously been convicted on charges of corruption,
revealing official secrets and violating marriage laws in three
separate verdicts and sentenced to 10, 14 and seven years
respectively. Under Pakistani law, he is to serve the terms
concurrently — meaning, the length of the longest of the sentences.
Some of Khan’s supporters were also present outside the Adiala
prison in the city of Rawalpindi, and they chanted slogans against
the government, demanding the release of their leader.
On Thursday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters in
Islamabad that there was “irrefutable evidence” against Khan and his
wife in the “mega corruption scandal.” Tarar said that Khan even did
not tell his own Cabinet members about the money that was returned
to Pakistan by Britain.
Tarar also claimed that Khan built a new sprawling house in the
eastern city of Lahore after giving benefits to the business tycoon,
and that he was unable to prove that from where he got the money
from to build it.
The latest development came a day after Khan's PTI party held a
crucial round of talks with representatives of the government of
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to demand the release of all political
detainees, including Khan and other party leaders.
Sharif became prime minister following the February 2024 election,
which PTI claims was rigged.
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