IMRAN KHAN FACES 14-YEAR JAIL TERM FOR ILLEGAL SELLING OF STATE GIFTS
In a significant development, former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 14 years in jail by an accountability court in Rawalpindi. The case is related to the illegal selling of state gifts, and the court also ruled that the couple would be ineligible to contest for a public office for 10 years. Additionally, they were fined 757 million rupees ($2.7m).
The verdict comes just a day after Khan was convicted for leaking state secrets and given a 10-year prison sentence. It is not clear if the sentences will run consecutively or concurrently.
Khan had previously been sentenced to three years in prison in August for selling gifts worth over 140 million rupees ($501,000) that he had received during his tenure as the prime minister from 2018 to April 2022. Despite securing bail, Khan remained in jail to face trial in other cases.
These convictions come just a week before the general elections scheduled for February 8, where Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has already been stripped of its election symbol, with most candidates now running as independents. Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.