Islamabad, Jan 17 (EFE).- A special court in Pakistan on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years in prison for receiving land as a bribe by misusing his position during his term, adding another sentence to the charismatic leader imprisoned since mid-2023.
Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi was sentenced to seven years in prison in the same case.
The verdict comes amid negotiations between Pakistan’s government and Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, after months of intense political turmoil and street protests calling primarily for the release of the opposition leader.
“Imran Khan (has been) sentenced for 14 years, meanwhile, Bushra Bibi sentenced for 7 years imprisonment in NAB’s (National ability Bureau’s) Al-Qadir Trust Reference,” PTI spokesperson Ahmed Janjua said in a statement.
The case involves a charitable trust set up by Khan and his wife in 2018, when he was still at the helm of the government.
According to the charges, Khan and Bibi obtained land worth 7 billion Pakistani rupees ($24 million) as a bribe from real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain.
In 2019, Hussain entered into an out-of-court settlement agreement with Britain’s National Crime Agency for the repatriation of 190 million pounds ($240 million) to the government of Pakistan in a money laundering case.
Khan’s cabinet then approved that the money be returned to Malik’s , apparently in exchange for land. The land was obtained in the name of Al-Qadir University Trust to build a charity university.
Bibi, who was present at the prison facility where the trial was held, was arrested immediately after the verdict was announced.
The former prime minister, arrested in August last year, is imprisoned in high-security Adiala jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. EFE
aa-igr/sc
