Court sentences Imran Khan to 14 years in prison, wife Bushra Bibi to 7 years in land corruption case
Last Updated on January 18, 2025 6:22 am
A Pakistani court has also convicted Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and sentenced her to 7 years in prison.
A Pakistani court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years in prison in a land corruption case. It is a setback for nascent talks between his party and the government to reduce political instability in the South Asian country.
The anti-corruption court in a jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi delivered the verdict in the case, where Khan has been incarcerated since August 2023.
Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi was also convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison. She was on bail but was taken into custody after the verdict was announced, Geo News reported.
Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar told reporters that Khan’s team could approach a higher court to appeal the verdict and the former cricket star could also seek forgiveness from the President of Pakistan.
Khan’s aide Omar Ayub said the party would challenge the ruling in the high court.
The 72-year-old former prime minister is accused of gifting land to him and his wife from a real estate developer in exchange for illegal favors during his term as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.
Khan and Bibi have pleaded not guilty.
The case relates to the Al-Qadir Trust, a private welfare organization set up by the couple while Khan was in power.
Prosecutors say the trust was a front for Khan to illegally acquire land from a real estate developer. They say he was given 60 acres (24 hectares) near Islamabad and another larger plot near his hilltop palace in the capital.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has said the land was not for personal gain but for a spiritual and educational institution set up by the former prime minister.
“While we await the detailed decision, it is important to remember that the Al Qadir Trust case against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi has no solid foundation and is bound to collapse,” PTI’s foreign media wing said in a statement.
The verdict has been delayed three times, most recently on Monday, amid reconciliation talks between the PTI and the government. The two sides have been at loggerheads since Khan was ousted in 2022.
The verdict is the biggest setback for Khan and his party since a surprisingly strong showing in the 2024 general election, when PTI candidates – who were forced to contest independently – won the most seats, but fell short of the majority needed to form a government.
Khan, who has been in prison since August 2023, is facing dozens of cases, ranging from corruption and abuse of power charges to charges of inciting violence against the state after he was removed from office in a parliamentary confidence vote in April 2022.
He has been acquitted or his sentence suspended in most cases, except for the charge of inciting supporters to riot at military installations to protest his arrest on May 9, 2023.
His supporters have staged several violent protest rallies since the May 9 incident.
Khan’s case was tried inside a prison for security reasons.