Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan sentenced to 14 yrs in graft case

Former premier Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi on Friday were convicted in the £190m Al-Qadir Trust case with the PTI founder being sentenced to 14 years in prison and a seven-year jail term handed to his wife.

Judge Nasir Javed Rana announced the verdict — previously delayed three times — in a makeshift courtroom at Adiala Jail. The court also imposed fines on Imran and Bushra, amounting to Rs1 million and Rs500,000, respectively, reports DAWN.

Failure to pay the fines would result in an additional six months in jail for Imran and three months for Bushra, the court said.

According to the verdict, property of the “sham trust ‘Al-Qadir University Project Trust’ is hereby forfeited to the Federal Government within the meaning of Section 10(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999”.

“Both the convicts are present before the Court, they be taken into custody in this case and be handed over to the Superintendent Jail along with the Committal Warrant to serve the sentences so awarded,” it added.

The verdict was announced amid tight security outside Adiala Jail, following which Bushra was arrested from the courtroom.

The couple was indicted in the case on Feb 27, 2024, shortly after the general elections.

The case alleges that Imran and Bushra obtained billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising Rs50 billion that was identified and returned to the country by the United Kingdom during the previous PTI government.

On December 23 — the original date the verdict was supposed to be announced — an Islamabad accountability court postponed its verdict in the case until January 6 due to winter vacations.

Speaking to reporters inside the courtroom after his conviction, Imran rejected the notion of entering a deal with anyone to get himself freed from prison.

“I will neither make any deal nor seek any relief,” he told reporters. “Those who stand against dictatorship are punished.”

PTI leaders, while speaking to reporters outside Adiala Jail, strongly denounced the verdict, terming it “unjust”, “shameful,” and a case of “political victimisation.”

Barrister Gohar said, “The behaviour of the court has been unjust. Khan sahib has not benefitted from a single rupee from this matter.”

“We want to tell the world: Khan sahib has done no wrong. He has committed no crime. He has reaped no benefit. He has misused no authority. He does not incur any criminal liability. This is a baseless and political victimisation case. It is nothing more than a political witchhunt. God willing this will go. Khan will not give up,” he said.