Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to ten years in prison. The judiciary accuses him of passing on secret documents. The ruling weakens the opposition ahead of the parliamentary elections.
In Pakistan, a court sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to ten years in prison. This was confirmed by a spokesman for Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. The judiciary accuses the politician of passing on confidential diplomatic information.
His party colleague, former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, must now serve a ten-year prison sentence as a result of this case. The trial took place in a prison where Khan is currently incarcerated. The PTI wants to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Opposition weakened ahead of parliamentary election
At the beginning of August, the 71-year-old ex-prime minister and former cricket star was imprisoned and convicted in a separate case. A higher authority then ordered his release – he had to remain in prison because of the investigation into the current case and more serious allegations.
A new parliament will be elected in Pakistan on February 8th. The opposition has been massively weakened due to Khan’s imprisonment. The former prime minister and most of his party’s candidates were excluded from the election.
Time and again, prime ministers in the South Asian country with more than 240 million inhabitants are dismissed prematurely – like Khan in April 2022. The powerful military, which has held half of the country’s power since the state was founded in 1947, is considered to be crucial to the fall and rise of politicians in the nuclear-armed state Time itself ruled.
Peter Hornung, ARD New Delhi, tagesschau, January 30, 2024 10:39 a.m