Imran Khan: Former Pakistan PM and wife Bushra Bibi jailed for corruption. Imran Khan and his woman Bushra Bibi have been jailed for 14 times, the alternate judgment handed to Pakistan’s former high minister in two days.
The couple were condemned of immorally serving from state gifts just a week before a general election in which he is barred from standing. Khan, who was ousted as PM by his opponents in 2022, is formerly serving a three- time jail term for corruption.
He has said the numerous cases against him are politically motivated.
Wednesday’s court case revolved around allegations over state gifts that he and his woman entered while in office, while Tuesday’s case- for which he was doomed to 10 times- for aching classified state documents. It’s allowed the two rulings will run concurrently, although that has not been vindicated.
The court has also ordered the couple to pay a penalty of about1.5 billion rupees(£4.2 m;$5.3 m).
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf( PTI) party also said that the sentencing further bans their leader from future political work he will be disqualified for 10 times from holding public office. Khan’s attorneys said they would be launching an appeal to Pakistan’s High Court in both cases. The former premier and international justice star has been detained since last August when he was arrested, serving time mainly at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.
His woman Bushra Bibi, who had been out on remand, surrendered at the jail on Wednesday. She has generally kept a low profile during their period in office. The two married in 2018, months before Khan was tagged high minister.
In the so- called Toshakhana( state stockroom) case, both had strongly denied the allegations brought against them by Pakistan ‘Santi- corruption watchdog that they had sold or kept state gifts entered in office for particular profit. analogous gifts included a jewelry set from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
The PTI has described the cases against Khan as bogus, arguing the trials passed under constraint in” kangaroo courts”, where proceedings have been rushed. His attorneys have said he was not given a chance to defend himself, while intelligencers at the court said neither Khan nor Bibi- nor their legal team- were in the room when the rulings were handed down.
It said Wednesday’s case heralded” another sad day in our judicial system history”, professing the bar was being” disassembled” and that the decision was akin to” a pre- determined process in play”. Pakistan’s bar maintains it’s independent.
According to Dr Farzana Shaikh, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Asia- Pacific program, the timing of the rulings could be read as the establishment icing” there’s absolutely no way Imran Khan can make it out in time for the election”.
” He has been in prison, but do flash back the first of these rulings( was) assessed on him for corruption and a advanced court actually suspended the judgment because it was seen to be full of holes
But it could also be an attempt to demoralize his backers.
” That of course is a big adventure,” Dr Shaikh added.” It could intoxicate his base and bring his backers out in force.”
Khan himself told his followers on Tuesday to” take revenge for every injustice with your vote on February 8 while remaining peaceful” in a statement released on his X( formerly Twitter) account. Indeed before the bottommost rulings were handed down, multitudinous were formerly questioning the credibility of the election coming Thursday given the extent to which Khan and his party have been sidelined.
The authorities deny carrying out a crackdown on PTI, but multitudinous of its leaders are now behind bars or have defected. Its contenders are standing as independents and multitudinous are on the run.
Thousands of the party’s backers were rounded up after protests- at times violent- when Khan was taken into custodianship last May. The party has also been stripped of its justice club symbol, essential in a country with low knowledge rates to allow pickers to choose where to mark their ballots.
The man leaned to win is three- time former PM Nawaz Sharif, who returned from tone- assessed exile in the afterlife. He was a nuisance in the side of the important service for important of his long career and was jailed for corruption ahead of the 2018 election that Imran Khan won.
Now multitudinous believe he is presently preferred by the Pakistan service establishment, while Khan who used to be seen as close to the military- has fallen out of favor.
