On January 17, 2025, a Pakistani court sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years in prison on corruption charges related to the Al-Qadir Trust case. His wife, Bushra Bibi, received a seven-year sentence for her involvement.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) accused Khan and his wife of accepting land as a bribe from real estate tycoon Malik Riaz during Khan’s tenure as Prime Minister.
In exchange, they allegedly facilitated the laundering of £190 million (approximately $240 million) returned to Pakistan by the UK’s National Crime Agency in 2022. This laundered money was purportedly used to pay fines imposed on Riaz in another case.
The verdict was delivered by Judge Nasir Javed Rana in a makeshift court set up in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, where Khan has been detained since August 2023. The court also ordered the confiscation of the land in question.
Khan’s legal team plans to appeal the decision, maintaining that the charges are politically motivated. His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has called for calm among supporters and intends to challenge the verdict in higher courts.
This conviction adds to Khan’s legal challenges, as he faces over 100 cases ranging from leaking state secrets to selling state gifts, all of which he decries as politically driven.
The political climate in Pakistan remains tense, with Khan’s supporters viewing the verdict as an attempt to sideline him from the political arena.
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