By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani accountability court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years in prison, after finding him and his wife guilty of accepting a bribe in the form of land from a real-estate tycoon Malik Riaz in exchange for using £190 million in repatriated government funds from the United Kingdom to pay tycoon’s court fines.
The sentence marks the longest prison term the former cricket star-turned-politician has received to date.
The verdict, handed down by the court operating from Adiala Jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Khan has been imprisoned since August 2023, found him guilty of corruption and corrupt practices in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, was also found guilty of “aiding, assisting, and abetting” corrupt practices and sentenced to seven years in prison.
“The accused Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi is hereby held guilty for commission of the offense of corruption and corrupt practices,” read the detailed court order shared by Khan’s party, adding that his wife was also found guilty of “aiding, assisting, and abetting” corrupt practices.
Faith healer Bibi, who was recently released on bail, was arrested at the court premises after the conviction.
The court ordered that the property of the “sham trust ‘Al-Qadir University Project Trust’ is hereby forfeited to the Federal Government within the meaning of Section 10(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999.”
“Both convicts are present before the Court; they shall be taken into custody in this case and handed over to the Superintendent Jail along with the Committal Warrant to serve the sentences so awarded,” it added.
The Al-Qadir Trust case, described by authorities as the largest corruption case in the country’s history, centers on allegations that Khan, while in office, and his wife received a parcel of land as a bribe from Malik Riaz, a prominent real estate tycoon.
In exchange, investigators claim that Khan used £190 million repatriated by the UK’s National Crime Agency to pay Riaz’s court fines.
The charge sheet accused Khan and his wife of acquiring land worth billions of rupees for the Trust from Riaz to establish a nonprofit educational institute for the poor.
The anti-graft watchdog alleged that Khan, as prime minister from August 2018 to April 2022, made a quid pro quo deal with Riaz, enabling him to receive more than $239 million government money. The NAB said Khan’s government gave legal cover to Riaz’s deal.
Khan told reporters in the courtroom, after his conviction on Friday, that he would “neither make any deal nor seek any relief” with the government
“Those who stand against dictatorship are punished,” Khan said. “In this case, neither I benefited nor the government lost [anything]. I don’t want any relief; I will face all cases,” he said. “My wife is a housewife, who has nothing to do with this phony case. My wife was given a sentence to infuriate me.”
A post on Khan’s X account, citing Khan’s message from jail, asked his supporters not to panic or lose hope and called the conviction a “joke.”
“I will never accept this dictatorship, and I am prepared to remain in a prison cell for as long as it takes in the struggle against this tyranny. I will not compromise on my principles or the fight for the true freedom of the nation,” the post said, adding, “I will not strike any deals and will face all the baseless cases against me.”
The post criticsed the judiciary. “Following the grim verdict in the Al-Qadir Trust case, the judiciary has further eroded its credibility. Judges who support tyranny and act on directives are rewarded. The judges nominated for the Islamabad High Court have only one qualification: delivering rulings against me.”
Khan alleged that the case’s outcome was “known to everyone beforehand,” adding that whether it was the delay in the verdict or the discussions regarding sentencing, “everything was leaked to the media in advance.” “Such mockery has never been witnessed in the history of the judiciary. The same person who dictated the verdict to the judge also leaked it to the media.”
He further said that it would be pointless to continue negotiations with the government if there was no progress on his party’s demands for judicial commissions to probe the events of May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024.
“Dishonest individuals never allow neutral umpires to intervene. The government is avoiding the demand for a judicial commission because it is dishonest,” Khan said.
The verdicts against Khan and his wife coincide with ongoing negotiations between the PTI and the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on several issues, including Khan’s release. The announcement of the verdict was delayed three times, most recently on Monday. With three rounds of negotiations already held between the government and PTI, analysts fear the conviction might derail the talks.
Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has denounced the verdict as a “politically motivated unfair trial” and said the party will challenge the verdict in higher courts.
The party said that the land was donated to the trust for a spiritual education centre and was not used for Khan’s personal gain.
“While the party awaits the detailed decision, it is important to note that the Al Qadir Trust case against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi lacks any solid foundation and is bound to collapse,” the PTI said.
“All evidence and witness testimonies confirm that there has been no mismanagement or wrongdoing. Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi are merely trustees with no further involvement in the matter.”
A number of government ministers welcomed the verdict, calling it based on evidence.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told reporters that the former cricket star could also file a mercy petition to the president of Pakistan.
“This case has run for a period of more than a year, and testimonies were recorded. The Tehreek-e-Insaf founder had the right to present evidence in his defense… he did not present witnesses in defense,” Tarar said. “Now, he has the right to file an appeal.”
Khan has been facing dozens of cases, ranging from charges of graft and misuse of power to inciting violence against the state, after being removed from office in a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022.
He has either been acquitted or had his sentences suspended in most cases, except for this one and another on charges of inciting supporters to rampage through military facilities to protest against his arrest on May 9, 2023.
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