A Pakistani court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years in prison in a land corruption case, a setback in nascent talks between his party and the government aimed at cooling political instability in the South Asian nation.
The verdict in the case was handed down by an anti-corruption court in the prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Khan has been detained since August 2023.
Khan's wife, Bushra Bibi, was also found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison. According to Geo News, she was released on bail, but after the verdict was announced she was arrested.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told reporters that Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party could approach higher courts to appeal against the verdict and the former cricket star could also submit a clemency petition to the president of Pakistan.
Omar Ayub, an adviser to Khan, said the party would challenge the verdict in higher courts.
Khan, 72, was accused of receiving land as a gift from a developer during his term as prime minister from 2018 to 2022 in exchange for illegal favors.
Khan and Bibi pleaded not guilty.
Dispute over the purchase of land
The case is linked to Al-Qadir Trust, a non-governmental social welfare organization that the couple founded while Khan was in office.
Prosecutors say the trust provided a cover for Khan to illegally receive land from the developer. They said he was given 24 hectares near Islamabad and another large plot of land near his hilltop residence in the capital.
Khan claims that the land was not intended for personal gain, but for a spiritual and educational institution that was founded by the former prime minister.
“While waiting for the detailed decision, it is important to note that the Al-Qadir Trust case against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi has no solid foundation and is in danger of collapse,” PTI's foreign media wing said in a statement.
The announcement of the verdict was postponed three times, most recently on Monday due to reconciliation talks between PTI and the government. The two sides have been at odds since Khan was removed from office in 2022.
The verdict is the biggest defeat for Khan and his party since a surprisingly strong showing in the 2024 general elections, when PTI candidates – forced to run as independents – won the most seats but fell short of the majority needed to form a government.
Khan, who has been imprisoned since August 2023, faces dozens of charges, ranging from bribery and abuse of power to inciting violence against the state after he was removed from office following a vote of confidence in parliament in April 2022.
Khan, who led Pakistan to the 1992 Cricket World Cup, was acquitted or had his sentences suspended in most of the cases, except for this and others on charges of inciting fans to rampage at military installations to protest his arrest on May 9, 2023.
He denied any accusations against him, telling Reuters that the military – which has ruled Pakistan for most of its history since independence in 1947 – and its intelligence agency are trying to destroy him and his political party.
Since the events of May 9, his supporters have led several violent protest rallies.
Khan's cases were heard in prison for security reasons.
Bushra's increasingly important role
Khan and supporters commonly call his wife Bushra Bibi or Bushra Begum, which means respect in Urdu.
Born in Bushra, Riaz Watto changed her surname to Khan after her wedding in 2018 – this was his third and second marriage.
In Islamabad, thousands of protesters were met with tear gas and bullets demanding the release of imprisoned former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. CBC South Asia correspondent Salimah Shivji explains the crackdown and what's driving long-simmering tensions to a boiling point.
She usually appears in public with her face covered by a veil, wearing a flowing, simple black or white abaya or robe.
Bushra, who was in her late 40s, made international headlines when she entered the capital Islamabad last year with thousands of PTI supporters who breached heavy security barricades.
“You all must promise that until Khan is with us, you will not leave,” Bushra said in her first-ever speech at a public rally.
Underscoring her increasingly active role in the PTI, she insisted that the protest be held at a sensitive, central location, despite Khan's orders to gather on the outskirts of the capital, according to party officials.
In October, she was released from prison after nine months in connection with a case involving the illegal sale of state gifts.