Pakistan’s Court sentences Ex-PM Khan to 10 years for revealing state secrets

Pakistani media have reported that the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, along with Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the former Foreign Minister of the country, have been sentenced to 10 years in prison each on charges of disclosing state secrets.

According to the news published in Pakistani media, Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain has verbally announced the verdict of their conviction in the case of revealing government secrets to Imran Khan and Qureshi at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

The verdict is another setback for Imran Khan, a former cricket star turned politician, who was removed from office through a no-confidence vote in April 2022 and is now serving a three-year prison term for corruption.

The verdict in the Cipher case was announced in Rawalpindi’s prison, as per Zulfiqar Bukhari, spokesperson for Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Imran Khan and his deputy, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, both sentenced to 10 years, have the option to appeal Tuesday’s ruling, according to authorities.

This comes as Imran Khan, who held the position of Prime Minister from the summer of 2018 until April 2022, is currently in prison due to various corruption, political, and security-related charges since the summer of this year.

It is worth mentioning that Imran Khan has been detained once again on the eve of the upcoming elections in Pakistan.

The ruling comes just before Pakistan’s parliamentary elections scheduled for February 8, and Imran Khan is ineligible to run due to his prior criminal conviction.

Despite his absence from the ballot, Khan retains significant political influence, boasting widespread grassroots support and championing an anti-establishment stance. He contends that the legal cases against him were orchestrated to marginalize him in the lead-up to the election.

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