Pak: Ex-PM Imran Khan gets 14 years jail in land graft case

A Pakistani court sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years imprisonment on Friday in a land corruption case, a setback to nascent talks between his party and the government aimed at cooling political instability in the south Asian nation.

- Reuters

ISLAMABAD:

The verdict in the case was delivered by an anti-graft court in a prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Khan has been jailed since August 2023.

Khan's wife Bushra Bibi was also found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison. She was out on bail but was taken into custody after the judgment was pronounced, Geo News reported. "The accused Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi is hereby held guilty for commission of offence of corruption and corrupt practices," read the detailed court order shared by Khan's party, adding that his wife was also found guilty of "aiding, assisting and abetting" corrupt practices.

Omar Ayub, an aide of Khan, said the party will challenge the verdict in higher courts. A number of government ministers welcomed the verdict, calling it based on evidence.