Global Rice News

Former cricket star found guilty of leaking state secrets

Khan’s former foreign minister also gets 10 years

Lawyers to challenge verdict in higher court

Party calls verdict ‘unacceptable’ attempt to influence polls

ISLAMABAD, Jan 30 (Reuters) – A Pakistan court sentenced Imran Khan to 10 years’ jail on Tuesday for leaking state secrets, his party said, the harshest sentence the former prime minister and cricketer has ever received and coming just days before national elections.

The special court found Khan guilty of making public the contents of a secret cable sent by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington to the government in Islamabad, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said. Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was also sentenced to 10 years in the same case.

The popular politician had earlier been sentenced to three years jail in a corruption case in August, which ruled him out of the public spotlight ahead of the Feb. 8 general elections.

The court is likely to issue a written verdict within a day or two. Khan’s PTI party said it would challenge Tuesday’s decision.

“We don’t accept this illegal decision,” Khan’s lawyer, Naeem Panjutha, posted on social media platform X.

Khan’s aide Zulfikar Bukhari told Reuters that the legal team was given no chance to represent him or cross examine witnesses, and that the proceedings were carried out in maximum security Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.

Another of Khan’s lawyers, Ali Zafar, told ARY television that given the circumstances of the trial and sentencing, the chances of the case being quashed on appeal was “100%”.

Bukhari called the conviction an attempt to weaken support for Khan.

“People will now make sure they come out and vote in larger numbers,” he told Reuters.

Khan was previously sentenced to three years in a corruption case, which had already ruled him out of the election next week.

His legal team was hoping to get him released from jail, where he has been since August last year, but the latest conviction means that is unlikely even as the charges are contested in a higher court.

The party of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Khan’s main political opponent, said the verdict was not harsh enough.

“I think, based on his carelessness and crime – pertaining to important national interests – this is a very light sentence,” Ahsan Iqbal, a senior Sharif aide, said in a TV interview.

Multiple Cases

Analysts believe Sharif’s party is the frontrunner to form the next government following the polls.

Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz were convicted and jailed over graft allegations days before the last general election in 2018. Analysts say that it helped Khan; while Khan’s sentence now helps Sharif. Both blame the military.

Khan’s sentencing just before the polls will “raise questions about the elections’ credibility”, said Mazhar Abbas, a Karachi-based analyst.

Pakistan’s recovery from an economic crisis depends on political stability. The election comes as Pakistan is navigating a tricky recovery path under a $3 billion International Monetary Fund bailout that helped it narrowly avert a sovereign default last year.

Khan has been fighting dozens of cases since he was ousted from power in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in 2022.

Khan says the secret cable mentioned in the case was proof of a conspiracy by the Pakistani military and the U.S. government to topple his government in 2022 after he visited Moscow, just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Washington and the Pakistan military deny the accusations.

Khan has previously said the contents of the cable appeared in the media from other sources.

Khan’s PTI, which won the 2018 elections, suffered a major setback earlier this month when a court upheld the Election Commission’s decision to strip the party of its traditional election symbol, the cricket bat.

His candidates are now contesting as independents, many of them on the run amid what the party calls a crackdown backed by the military. The military denies this.

Khan’s media team posted a message from the jailed leader on X ahead of the verdict.

“These people want to provoke you by giving me a harsh sentence in this case so that you go out on the streets and protest, then add unknown people to the crowd and then do another false flag operation,” the post said.

In May last year, the first time Khan was arrested, his supporters were accused of rioting, and hundreds were arrested and tried. Khan denies his supporters were part of the mob.

Many of them have faced arrest while attending subsequent party rallies or demonstrations.

Khan’s party has not called for protests or demonstrations before the election.

Khan urged his supporters to vote for candidates backed by him.

“This is your war and this is your test that you have to take revenge for every injustice by your vote on February 8 while remaining peaceful,” the post on X said.

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