Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan, middle, arrives to appear in the Supreme Court in Islamabad on 24 July 2023. He has been jailed for leaking state secrets. Photo: Aamir QURESHI / AFP
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 10 years in jail after he was found guilty of leaking state secrets, state media and a spokesman for his party said.
This comes just over a week before the country’s general election on February 8.
The jail sentence follows a trial held inside the jail where Khan has been detained for much of the time since his arrest in August.
“Former prime minister Imran Khan and PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) vice-president (Shah Mahmood) Qureshi have been sentenced to 10 years each inside prison in the cypher case,” a spokesman for the party was quoted as saying by AFP.
Imran Khan is expected to challenge the decision in a higher court, but it represents the latest blow to PTI ahead of the election.
The case centres around how the pair handled a so-called “cypher” sent by Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States that alleged Washington was complicit in a plot to turf Imran Khan from office in 2022.
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It was alleged that Khan shared the contents of a secret cable sent by the country’s ambassador in Washington to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad by waving it at a rally, according to Al Jazeera.
Khan repeatedly denied the charge, saying the document contained evidence that his removal as prime minister was a plot hatched by his political opponents and the powerful military, with help from the US administration. Washington and Islamabad reject the accusation.
He was Prime Minister from August 2018 to April 2022 when he lost a vote of confidence in the parliament.
In 2022, Khan survived an assassination attempt. The 70-year-old was wounded on the foot when shots were fired from the crowd during a political rally near the city of Gujranwala. Khan was giving a speech to supporters when the shooting happened.
He was taken from the rally site, just outside the town of Gujranwala, to receive treatment in Lahore.
At least three of his supporters were also injured.
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