Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 14 years in jail in a corruption case, just a day after he was given a 10-year sentence for leaking state secrets,
The Guardian reports.
Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, was also handed a 14-year sentence in the case, known as Toshakhana, which accused them both of illegally selling state gifts. The judge also banned them both from holding political office for 10 years.
The sentence, given at a hearing held in the Rawalpindi prison where Khan is being held, further worsens the plight of the beleaguered former prime minister, who has been in jail since August and is facing over a hundred different charges.
The judge had denied Khan’s lawyers request to cross-examine witnesses in the trial and Khan’s lawyers were not present on Wednesday when the sentence was given.
Bibi surrendered to the authorities at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Wednesday morning.
The Toshakhana verdict came just a day after a special court, also held in prison, found Khan guilty of leaking state secrets in relation to a sensitive diplomatic cable that allegedly went missing in his possession. Khan had described the trial as a sham and lawyers said he would be appealing against the verdict.
The timing of both consecutive convictions was deemed as significant by observers, coming just a week before Pakistan goes to the polls in its long-delayed general election. Though Khan is already banned from running, he remains hugely popular among voters.
This is Khan’s second sentencing in the Toshakaha case, which related to allegations that the former prime minister bought several gifts given by rulers and government officials at low prices and then sold them on for an undeclared profit. Khan had denied all wrongdoing.
The anti-graft watchdog alleged that Khan and his wife had received 108 gifts from heads of state and foreign officials, some worth millions of rupees, during his term as prime minister and that many had been illegally kept or sold by the pair.
