Pakistan former Prime Minister Imran Khan sentenced to 3 years jail,
arrested
Send a link to a friend
[August 05, 2023]
By Mubasher Bukhari, Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Charlotte
Greenfield
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) -Police arrested Pakistan's former Prime
Minister Imran Khan in Lahore on Saturday after a court sentenced him to
three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts, potentially
barring the opposition leader from contesting an upcoming election.
Legal experts say the guilty verdict reached by an Islamabad district
court could eliminate Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's greatest rival in
a national election that is expected to be held in November.
"Police have arrested Imran Khan from his residence," Khan's lawyer,
Intezar Panjotha, told Reuters. "We are filing a petition against the
decision in high court."
Lahore Police Chief Bilal Siddique Kamiana confirmed the arrest and told
Reuters the politician was being transferred to the capital, Islamabad.
He would then be held at Central Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, near the
capital, according to the arrest warrant.
Khan's political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said in a
statement it had already filed another appeal to the Supreme Court
earlier on Saturday.
Khan, 70, is a former cricket star who went on to forge a political
career and who was prime minister from 2018 to 2022. He has denied any
wrongdoing and in a pre-recorded video address released by his party he
asked his supporters to peacefully protest.
"By the time you hear this statement, they will have arrested me. I have
only one appeal: don't sit silently at home. I am struggling for you and
the country and your children's future," he said.
The conviction came just a day after Pakistan's high court temporarily
halted the district court trial. It was not immediately clear why the
trial had proceeded despite the high court decision.
Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a broadcast statement
that Khan's arrest followed a full investigation and proper legal
proceedings in a trial court. She said his arrest was unrelated to the
upcoming elections.
A copy of the court verdict, shared by Khan's legal team, said the
former premier had made false statements in relation to acquiring
official state gifts.
"He has been found guilty of corrupt practices by hiding the benefits he
accrued from national exchequer willfully and intentionally," the
verdict said.
"He cheated while providing information about gifts he obtained from
Toshakhana (state gift repository) which later proved to be false and
inaccurate."
[to top of second column]
|
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran
Khan speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan
March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo
LEAD UP TO ELECTION
Police surrounded Khan's residence in Lahore on Saturday after the
verdict was released, Pakistani media and a Reuters witness
reported, but there were no immediate signs of unrest in the hours
after his arrest, unlike last May.
Back then, his arrest and detention for several days over a separate
case sparked political turmoil and deadly clashes between his
supporters and police.
Prime Minister Sharif has proposed that parliament be dissolved on
Aug. 9, three days before the end of its term, according to
political sources, paving the way for a general election by
November.
A PTI official said vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a former
foreign minister, would lead the party during Khan's absence.
Khan was convicted by the court in a case that was first
investigated by the election commission, which found him guilty of
unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister.
He was accused of misusing his premiership to buy and sell gifts in
state possession that were received during visits abroad and worth
more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000).
Khan has been charged in a string of cases since being ousted from
the premiership in a no confidence vote in Pakistan's parliament in
April 2022.
Once criticized for being under the thumb of powerful generals,
Khan's ouster that year came amid worsening relations between him
and then army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
He has said the army, under current chief General Asim Munir, is
continuing to target him and his party in a bid to keep him out of
the elections and prevent him from returning to power. The army
denies this.
(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore, Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam in
Karachi and Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad; Editing by William
Mallard, Simon Cameron-Moore and Frances Kerry)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |