Former Pakistani PM and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sentenced to 14 years in jail in the Toshakhana case on Wednesday. The sentence comes a day after Khan was given a 10-year sentence in the “cipher case,” along with ex-Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
14 Year Sentence
The conviction by the anti-corruption court comes three weeks after Khan and his wife were indicted in the case. The sentence bars Imran and his wife from holding any public office for ten years.
Khan’s wife surrendered before the law enforcement authorities at the Adiala Jail following her conviction. The former PM and his wife are said to have illegally sold state gifts during his term from 2018 to 2022. A collective fine of 787 million Pakistani rupees (~$2.7 million) has been imposed on the couple.
#BREAKING:
— Dawn.com (@dawn_com) January 31, 2024
An accountability court has sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 14 years in jail in the Toshakhana reference.https://t.co/wLL1ceX43r
Questioning the legitimacy of the sentence, PTI official Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari said Khan’s sentencing was “yet another sad day in Pakistan’s judicial history.” The PTI chief’s third conviction comes eight days before the 8 February general elections, which his party is contesting despite a heavy state crackdown. Apart from the conviction in the cipher case, Khan was earlier given a three-year sentence in the Toshakhana case last August.
Khan’s lawyer, Babar Awan, criticised the latest conviction and said that it will be challenged in higher courts. He accused the court of not waiting for the arrival of Khan’s legal team before pronouncing the sentence.
Toshakhana Case
Toshakhana is a government repository where presents received by government officials during their foreign trips are kept. It is said that Khan retained several of the 108 gifts he received from different heads of state and foreign dignitaries at undervalued prices and sold them illegally.
The controversy came to light in August 2022, when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government filed a case against Khan, alleging that he had not disclosed information on gifts presented to the Toshakhana. The gifts amounted to as much as 140 million Pakistani rupees (~$635,000).
After a trial court announced a 3-year sentence in the case last year, Khan was arrested from his Lahore residence. While the conviction was later overturned, he continued to be in jail due to several other cases.
Cipher Case Conviction
The former PM faces several charges, and over 150 cases have been filed against him since his removal from office. Earlier on Tuesday, Special Court judge Abul Hasnat Zulwarnain announced a 10-year sentence for Khan and former FM Qureshi at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
In the cipher case, the two leaders were convicted of disclosing information received in a secret diplomatic cable to unauthorised persons (i.e., the public). Khan is charged with helping to facilitate the leak in order to create the impression that a foreign conspiracy by the US was the reason for his removal from office.
Big question marks arise on our judicial system now. How the cipher and Tosha Khana case were conducted have exposed a complete disregard of law by trial court.
— PTI (@PTIofficial) January 31, 2024
Surely, such sham trial belongs to dustbin only at HC! #ناانصافی_کا_بدلہ_ووٹ_سے https://t.co/jzyWrHx4yt
PTI still asserts that Khan was removed from office because of a US plot. Leaked papers obtained by the US-based news outlet Intercept indicate that the US State Department encouraged Pakistan to oust Khan from office due to his neutral stance on the Ukraine-Russia War.
Many see the timing of the convictions as politically motivated. With Khan’s party being virtually kept out of the running by the country’s election commission, rights watchdogs have claimed that the upcoming election has been subject to pre-poll rigging.