Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was sentenced to ten years in prison for a case of disclosure of classified documents, a few days before the legislative elections, his party and public media announced on Tuesday.
Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, former foreign minister and number two in the party founded by Imran Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI),
“were sentenced to ten years in prison in (this) case”
, indicated a PTI spokesperson told AFP.
An “American conspiracy”
The former prime minister, ousted from this post in April 2022 by a motion of censure, has already been incarcerated since August.
He faces a slew of charges and has been declared ineligible for five years.
This conviction comes less than ten days before the legislative and provincial elections of February 8, the campaign of which was marred by accusations of fraud and repression against the PTI.
At the heart of this affair: a diplomatic cable from the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, which Imran Khan presented as proof of an American plot against him, supported by the Pakistani military.
The United States and the Pakistani military have denied the claim.
Imran Khan was charged in October under the Official Secrets Act, which dates from the colonial era.
The trial was held in the prison where he is detained.
The former star cricketer believes the proceedings against him are politically motivated.
He accuses the army, which helped him come to power in 2018 but whose support he has since lost according to analysts, of seeking to prevent him from regaining leadership of the country.