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ISLAMABAD-PAKISTAN: Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been jailed for 14 years, the second sentence handed to Pakistan’s former powerful Prime Minister in two days. The couple convicted of illegally profiting from state gifts just a week before a general election in which he’s barred from standing.
Khan, who was ousted as Prime Minister by his opponents in 2022 is already serving a three year jail term for corruption. He has said the numerous cases against him are politically motivated.
Wednesday’s court case revolved around accusations over state gifts that him and his wife received while in office, while Tuesday’s case for which he was sentenced to 10 years is for leaking classified documents. It is thought the two sentences will run concurrently although that has not been confirmed.
The court has also ordered the couple to pay a fine of about 1.5 billion rupees (£4.2m or $5.3m). Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party also said that the sentencing further bans their leader from future political involvement and work: He will be disqualified for 10 years from holding public office.
Khan’s lawyers said they would be launching an appeal to Pakistan’s High court in both cases. His wife Bushra Bibi, who had been out on remand surrendered at the jail on Wednesday. She typically kept a low profile during their period in office. The Two married in 2018, months before Khan was elected prime minister.
In the so-called Toshakhana (treasure house) case, both had strongly denied the accusations brought against them by the Pakistan’s Anti-Corruption watchdog that they had sold or kept state gifts received in office for personal profit. Such gifts included a jewelry set from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
