Former Pakistan Captain Imran Khan was sentenced to be imprisoned for 10 years after not returning a diplomatic document after he was removed from the Prime Minister’s office in 2022.
Imran Khan sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
Imran was charged under the Official Secrets Act which was from the British era, by the Pakistan special court convened to hear his case alongside Shah Mahmood Qureshi who was also sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
The PTI’s official X account issued a statement calling the ruling “a Sham trial and a complete mockery and disregard of the law.”
Imran has alleged that to be removed from power through a no-confidence vote as he was undertaken to return the document. The document contained proof of American diplomatic pressure to get rid of him.
This allegation became more serious when a US organization published an article after it was rumored that a former cricketer gained access to the document.
The article said that the U.S. state threatened Pakistani isolation if Imran wasn’t removed from power and that if he was removed “all would be forgiven.”
In Pakistan, Public discussion of the document known as cypher, has led to the possibility of being charged with violation of the Secrets Act.
The court found him guilty of misusing the confidential cable sent by a former Pakistani Ambassador to the United States.
Imran repeatedly denied the charge saying the document had evidence that his removal as prime minister was a plot by his political enemies and the powerful military, with help from the US Administration. Washington and the Pakistani army reject the accusation.
He was in Pakistan’s jail since August last year after he lost a vote of confidence in the parliament. On this occasion, Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari a spokesperson for Imran Khan’s party will challenge the court’s decision.
“This was pretty much a writing on the wall,” he said, adding that the trial was held in an “unlawful manner”.
“Our lawyers were not allowed to represent Imran Khan. They were not even allowed to cross-examine the witnesses. What was unfolding in the court was merely a charade and a sham,” Bukhari said.
“With the sentence coming at a time when elections are less than 10 days away, it will only motivate our supporters and help them come out in droves. It looks like the authorities want to suppress the PTI and its voter base, but their acts will only drive us to vote in bigger numbers,” he told the media.
Political analyst Benazir Shah said it was “clear from the very onset of the court proceedings [against Khan] that the state had little interest in fairly investigating the case, regardless of its serious nature”.
“The state was instead using it as just another means to block Khan from coming to power post the elections,” told Bukhari, adding that it was “deeply troubling” that the trial was “shrouded in secrecy, preventing journalists from covering the proceedings despite court orders of an open trial”.
“I can’t wait to see how the trial court squares this circle. And who the enemy is with which Khan and Qureshi wanted to collude with,” Bukhari concluded.
