An accountability court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years’ imprisonment and his wife Bushra Bibi to seven years in a land corruption case, its legal team said.
The verdict in the case, the largest in terms of financial wrongdoing Khan faced, was delivered by an anti-corruption court in a prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Khan has been imprisoned since August 2023.
Here are some of the allegations against the 72-year-old former cricket star, named in dozens of cases since he was ousted from office in 2022 and which have kept him behind bars for more than a year .
GRAFTS ALLEGATIONS
On Friday, Khan was found guilty of accusations that he and his wife were offered land by a property developer during his 2018-2022 term as prime minister in exchange for illegal favors.
He was first arrested in May 2023 in the case, based on allegations that the couple received land worth up to 7 billion rupees ($25.12 million) as bribes. bribe through a trust created in 2018.
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party claimed the land was donated for charitable purposes.
Bibi was taken into custody on Friday after being released on bail in October in a separate case.
STATE GIFTS
Khan was arrested in August 2023 for allegedly selling gifts worth over Rs 140 million that he received during his tenure as prime minister and which belonged to the state. Khan and Bibi were indicted on new charges in December after being convicted in two other versions of the case, although their sentences were suspended. The couple has denied any wrongdoing.
PROMOTING VIOLENCE
Khan faces anti-terrorism charges in connection with the violence that followed his arrest in May 2023, for which several of his supporters have already been convicted.
He was charged in December and is currently on trial.
STATE SECRETS
Khan was accused of publicizing a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington in 2022, while he was still in office. He was acquitted in that case in June.
ILLEGAL MARRIAGE
Khan and his wife were accused of breaking Islamic law by failing to comply with the prescribed waiting period between Bibi’s divorce from her previous husband and their marriage in 2018. They were acquitted of the charges in July.
