A Pakistani court sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to ten years in prison on Tuesday for leaking state secrets, according to Khan's media team. The case relates to allegations that Khan shared the contents of a confidential cable sent by the country's ambassador in Washington to the government in Islamabad. Khan's party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, stated that a special court has ruled that Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi are each to serve ten years in prison. The party added that it would appeal the decision. Khan’s lawyer, Naeem Bangohta, wrote on X platform, "We do not accept this illegal verdict."
This is the second conviction for the former cricket star in recent months. He was previously sentenced to three years in prison in a corruption case. While the prison sentence was suspended due to his appeal against the corruption conviction, it has effectively disqualified him from the upcoming general elections scheduled for next week. Despite his disqualification, Khan's legal team hoped for his release from jail. The latest conviction makes his release unlikely, even with the appeals against the charges in a higher court.
Khan faces numerous cases since his ousting from power in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in 2022. He claims that the cable was evidence of a conspiracy orchestrated by the Pakistani military and the U.S. government to oust his administration in 2022 after he visited Moscow before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Both Washington and the Pakistani military deny these allegations.
