Imran Khan’s jail sentence suspended — RT World News
The former Prime Minister of Pakistan has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for illegally selling state gifts
On Monday, a Pakistani court granted former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan permission to appeal his graft conviction and suspended his 14-year prison sentence, according to what Reuters reported, citing his lawyer.
Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced to 14 years in prison on January 31 – just a week before Pakistan's elections scheduled for February 8, which Khan's party claims are rigged. Khan has been in prison since August last year on several charges.
According to his lawyer, Barrister Ali Zafar, the Islamabad High Court said that the sentences against the couple on corruption charges will remain suspended until a final decision on the convictions is issued.
“There is no evidence to support this conviction.” He told reporters, claiming that this was the reason the court suspended the ruling in the first session of the appeal.
Khan and his wife were accused of illegally selling government gifts, worth more than 140 million rupees ($500,000), while Khan was prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The list of these gifts reportedly included perfume, diamond jewellery, dinner sets and seven watches. , mostly Rolex.
Despite the suspension, 71-year-old Khan will remain in prison due to several other sentences imposed on the politician before the elections, which also banned him from holding any public office for ten years.
In another such trial, the former prime minister was sentenced to ten years in prison for leaking state secrets. Khan claimed that the cable he published contained evidence of collusion between the Pakistani army and American officials to remove him from power in April 2022.
The former cricketer-turned-politician was ousted in a no-confidence vote in 2022, with the opposition accusing him of mismanaging the economy and foreign policy. Since then, the former leader has fought dozens of legal battles.
Khan has repeatedly denied the allegations and claimed that he was ousted as a result of a conspiracy. His party Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also asserted that the cases were based on fabricated charges to keep him out of politics. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was banned from participating in the elections, forcing its candidates to run as independents.
On March 3, Pakistan's newly formed government elected Shehbaz Sharif, who heads the Muslim League-Nawaz party, as prime minister, following general elections. The voting took place amid protests from Khan's supporters who insist that the elections were a sham. This is the second term for Sharif, who was elected prime minister for the first time in April 2022, after Khan was ousted in a vote of no confidence.
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