Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan Gets 10 Years Jail
Former Pakistan Prime Minister & Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s president Imran Khan has been sentenced 10 years in prison on 30th January 2024
Former Pakistan Prime Minister & Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s president Imran Khan was sentenced to 10 years in prison on 30th January 2024, just less than two weeks before the elections (elections are in Feb). The same sentence was also delivered to Shah Mehmood Qureshi, vice-president of the Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who served as foreign minister under Imran.The sentence was issued by a special Pakistan court after finding both Imran & Qureshi guilty in a cipher (code) case. The case is from an incident at a rally in March 2022. At the rally, Khan openly showed a document alleging a foreign conspiracy against him. While he didn't name any country then, he later criticized the United States. The document that he showed at the rally was a secret diplomatic cable (message). The diplomatic cable is a confidential text-based message exchanged between diplomats of an embassy and the foreign ministry of that country. The diplomatic cable was sent by Pakistan's ambassador in Washington, USA to Islamabad during Khan's tenure as the Prime Minister. The prosecution argued that Khan's actions of showing the diplomatic cable at the rally meant leaking a classified document and damaging diplomatic relations. This was a violation of Pakistan’s Official Secrets Act. Hence he was sentenced to 10 years in jail. The special court was set up on 13th December 2024 at the Adiala district jail after Imran was imprisoned there in August 2023. The special court judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain handed down the order on 30th January 2024 and the sentence was delivered to Imran in Adiala jail. Despite the sentence, Imran can appeal against the verdict in a higher court. Imran’s party PTI called the verdict a "sham case". PTI also called the special court's decision a “complete mockery and disregard of law in the cypher case.” The party said that it will challenge the decision in a higher court. It is also urging people to vote in the 8th February 2024’s general elections. PTI said, “InshAllah Kaptaan and Vice Kaptaan will be back soon, and this sentence will be in a dustbin in the appeal stage.” The cipher case is one of the more than 150 cases against Imran Khan. Other charges range from contempt of court to terrorism and inciting violence. ISH has released multiple videos on the topic to keep you updated with international affairs of the world. So keep watching ISH News.
