A Pakistan court has sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his close aide, former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, to 10 years in jail in a case related to the leaking of state secrets. The special court, convened within a prison in Rawalpindi, announced the verdict in the cypher case, involving a diplomatic cable that Khan alleges supports his claim of a conspiracy behind his removal from power in 2022.
The court, operating under the Official Secrets Act, found Khan guilty of misusing the confidential cable sent by a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States. Despite Khan's repeated denial of the charge, asserting that the document contains evidence of a plot orchestrated by his political adversaries and the influential military, aided by the US administration, both Washington and the Pakistani army dismiss the allegation.
Khan was Pakistan’s premier from August 2018 to April 2022 when he lost a vote of confidence in the parliament. He has been in jail since August last year, facing trial in multiple cases.
The sentencing against the country’s main opposition leader comes about a week before the general elections, scheduled on February 8.
Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, a spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told media the PTI will challenge the court’s decision.
“This was pretty much a writing on the wall,” he said, adding that the trial was held in an “unlawful manner”.