Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023, was sentenced to another 14 years in prison for a corruption charge at a court hearing in Rawalpindi’s Adiala prison on Friday.
Khan was ousted as prime minister by a vote of no confidence in April 2022. His attempt at a political comeback was thwarted by a blizzard of some 200 criminal investigations, many of them for corruption and abusing his office. His supporters long sought to protect him from arrest and rioted when he was finally taken into custody. He remains one of Pakistan’s most popular political figures despite his imprisonment, and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Party has fared well in elections despite heavy pressure from the political establishment and military.
Khan has been tried and acquitted on some of the charges against him, but others are keeping him behind bars. The charges for which he was sentenced on Friday involved the Al Qadir University Project Trust, an organization prosecutors say was a front for Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to engage in bribery and influence peddling.
The trust was supposed to acquire land for building a nonprofit school for impoverished young people, but prosecutors alleged Khan used it to launder about $239 million in funds from a property tycoon named Malik Riaz. The money had been seized from Riaz and returned to the Pakistani government by the United Kingdom in 2022.
The scheme allegedly involved Riaz handing large tracts of valuable property over to Khan’s trust, while Khan used the $239 million repatriated by the British government to pay off various fines assessed against the property tycoon.
Bushra Bibi, who was present for Khan’s jailhouse trial, was sentenced to seven years for her involvement with the Al Qadir trust and was arrested at Adiala prison.
Bibi was released from prison in October after serving nine months for illegally selling gifts that were technically given to the Pakistani state when Khan was prime minister. In November, she led a massive PTI demonstration in Islamabad to demand Khan’s release. Bibi has also cultivated a reputation as a spiritual leader and expert in Sufi Muslim mysticism.
PTI released a statement condemning the “politically motivated” sentences handed down against Khan and Bibi.
“Whilst we wait for detailed decision, it’s important to note that the Al Qadir Trust case against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi lacks any solid foundation and is bound to collapse,” the party said.
“This is a bogus case, and we will approach an appeals court against this decision,” added senior PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan.
Khan and Bibi reportedly smiled and laughed when the sentences against them were pronounced. In a social media post written after the sentencing, Khan told supporters the charges against him were false, and he would continue his efforts to get out of prison.
“I will never accept this dictatorship and I will stay in the prison cell for as long as I have to in the struggle against this dictatorship, but I will not compromise on my principles and the struggle for the true freedom of the nation,” he said.
Khan’s lawyer, Faisal Fareed Chaudhry, called the decision against his client a “bogus persecution” and said Pakistan’s anti-corruption authorities “couldn’t establish a loss of even a single penny” in the case.
Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar countered by telling reporters the evidence against Khan and Bibi in their “mega corruption scandal” was “irrefutable.”
Several Pakistani legal and political analysts told Al Jazeera News on Friday that contrary to Khan’s bravado, the Al Qadir Trust case was one of the longest and best-documented prosecutions to be brought against the former prime minister. It was also the most serious charge of corruption against Khan based on total dollar value.
“The core issue is money laundering, and NAB (National Accountability Bureau) provisions are explicit regarding dishonesty and misuse of authority by public office holders. Additionally, both the Supreme Court and the federal cabinet were misled, and state money was unlawfully redirected for personal gain,” said Islamabad lawyer Hafiz Ahsaan Khokhar.
“This case has lasted the longest, with thousands of pages of evidence presented. There were certainly irregularities warranting investigation,” noted political analyst Majid Nizami.
Nizami felt the fresh jail sentence could derail PTI’s attempts to negotiate early release for Khan with the Pakistani government. This could, in turn, spark another round of street demonstrations by Khan supporters.
“When talks began, it was agreed that dialogue would continue regardless of the verdict, but the conviction may strain these efforts,” Nizami said.
