By Asaye Bankole
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have been sentenced to 17 years in prison after a court found them guilty of illegally keeping and selling valuable state gifts.
The ruling, delivered on Saturday, brings to a close a years-long case in which the couple were accused of selling several gifts including jewellery received from the Saudi Arabian government at prices far below their market value. Both have denied the allegations.
Under Pakistani law, officials who wish to keep gifts received from foreign dignitaries are required to buy them at market value and declare any profits made from their sale.
Prosecutors argued that the couple made unlawful gains by purchasing the items for an artificially low price of $10,000, far below their assessed market value of $285,521.
Khan’s supporters swiftly condemned the verdict. His spokesperson, Zulfikar Bukhari, said “criminal liability was imposed without evidence of intent, benefit, or loss, and was based instead on a retrospective reinterpretation of the rules.”
His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, described the trial as a “sham” on social media and criticised how international media reported the case.
The 73-year-old former leader served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 until April 2022, when he was removed through a no-confidence vote.
He has been in prison since August 2023 on multiple charges, including corruption and the disclosure of state secrets allegations he has denied, insisting they are politically motivated. He has been acquitted of some of the cases.
A world-renowned cricketer during his playing career, Khan remains a popular figure in Pakistan, and his imprisonment has sparked protests across the country over the past two years.
The former leader is currently being held in a prison in Rawalpindi and is “kept inside all the time,” his sister, Uzma Khanum, told reporters earlier this month.
Khanum, a doctor and the first family member permitted to visit him in weeks, said he was “very angry” about his isolation and believes the “mental torture” of imprisonment is “worse than physical abuse.”
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