Jailed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a special court on Tuesday for leaking state secrets, in a major blow to his bid to return to power in the February 8 general elections.
The decision to sentence Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was announced by special court Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain during the hearing of the case held at the special court in Adiala Jail at Rawalpindi established under the stringent Official Secrets Act.The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician is already serving a three-year jail term after being convicted of corruption.
Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has faced numerous troubles starting with the denial of its election symbol, the cricket bat, to the rejection of nomination papers of Khan, Qureshi, 67, and a number of other party leaders. The controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Khan — less than a month before his ouster in April 2022 — while addressing a public rally waved a letter before the crowd, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation that had conspired with his political rivals to have his government overthrown.
Khan did not reveal the contents of the letter nor did he mention the name of the nation it came from. But a few days later, he accused the US of conspiring against him and alleged that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal. The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Asad Majeed’s meeting with Lu. The case was filed against Khan and Qureshi on August 15 last year by the Federal Investigation Agency, which accused both of violating the secrecy laws while handling the cable sent by the Pakistan embassy in Washington in March 2022. The verdict comes nine days before the February 8 general elections, which the PTI is contesting amid a state crackdown and without an electoral symbol.
Both Imran and Qureshi have been in jail in the run-up to the elections. While Imran’s candidature was rejected, Qureshi was cleared to run for an NA seat from Thar. But today’s conviction means that both of them have been disqualified from contesting elections for the next five years, the Dawn newspaper reported.
Both Khan and Qureshi had pleaded not guilty to their involvement in the offence related to the alleged misuse of diplomatic cable for political purposes.
The PTI leaders confirmed the development by saying that it was a “sham case with no access to media or public.”
“Legal team will challenge the decision in a higher court and hopefully will get this sentence suspended, given the poor proceedings of a case when Islamabad High Court had annulled proceedings twice, ordered access to media and public but on the contrary, access of legal team was denied, and a decision reached in a haste,” the party said in WhatsApp message.“God willing kaptaan and vice kaptaan will be back soon, and this sentence will be (thrown) in the dustbin in the appeal stage,” the party said. This is Imran’s second conviction as he was also convicted in the Toshakhana corruption case on August 5, and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. It was Qureshi’s first conviction.The Islamabad High Court had suspended his sentence. However, a division bench had later rejected Imran’s petition seeking the suspension of the conviction.
At today’s hearing held in the Adiala Jail, Khan and Qureshi were given a questionnaire under Section 342 (power to examine the accused) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
After Imran recorded his statement, the court asked him about the whereabouts of the cipher (diplomatic cable), to which the former prime minister replied: “I have said the same in my statement that I do not know. The cipher was in my office.”The judge then sentenced the two leaders to 10 years in jail in the case. After announcing the verdict, the judge stepped out of the courtroom, at which Qureshi protested that his statement was not recorded. PTI leader Gohar Khan said that the special court judge had announced the verdict in haste, adding that proceedings were not being conducted in accordance with the law and the Constitution.“He asked questions himself and the way our witness was cross-examined, you cannot find any such examples in history,” he said while speaking to the media outside the Islamabad High Court.
Speaking to the media, Khan’s sister Aleema Khan alleged that someone was “giving instructions” to Judge Zulqarnain.
Aleema said the sentence was given due to the fear of Donald Lu, a senior US State Department official, and ex-army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa being summoned for cross-examination.
Speaking to Geo News, PTI counsel Barrister Ali Zafar said he would file an appeal tomorrow in the Islamabad High Court, calling it a “blessing in disguise.”
“The case was going good but in recent days the judge changed everything and this was a mistrial. A criminal trial needs to be a fair trial,” he said.
