Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan gets 10-year prison term for leaking state secrets

A Pakistan court on Tuesday sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and one of his party deputies to 10 years in prison each, after finding them guilty of revealing official secrets. The verdict drew swift criticism from Khan's followers.

It was also another blow to Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022 and is currently serving a three-year prison sentence in a graft case.

According to Zulfiqar Bukhari, chief spokesman for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, the verdict was announced by a special court set up at the prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Khan is held. Authorities said Khan and his deputy Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who also received a 10-year sentence, have the right to appeal Tuesday's ruling in the case, popularly known as the Cipher.

Khan's legal team was planning to appeal the conviction before the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday.

The ruling comes ahead of the Feb. 8 parliamentary elections in Pakistan — a vote Khan is barred from running in because of his previous criminal conviction.

Although he is not on the ballot, Khan remains a potent political force because of his grassroots following and anti-establishment rhetoric. He says the legal cases against him were a plot to sideline him ahead of the vote.

Pakistan has seen violent demonstrations after Khan's May 2023 arrest and authorities have cracked down on his supporters and party since then.

A roadside bomb on Tuesday targeting supporters of Khan killed four people and wounded five others in Sibi, a district in Baluchistan province, local hospital official Shahid Babar said.

The bombing happened when Khan supporters on motorcycles were passing through a bazaar to attend a campaign rally.

No one claimed responsibility and police said they are still investigating.

In recent years, Pakistani security forces have struggled to rein in surging militancy in Baluchistan, where the Pakistani Taliban and other militant groups have a presence and often attack security personnel.

Faces dozens of cases

The Cipher case is one of more than 150 cases against Khan. Other charges range from contempt of court to terrorism and inciting violence.

In the Cipher case, Khan is alleged to have waved a confidential document — a classified cable — at a rally after he was toppled. The document has not been made public by either the government or Khan's lawyers, but was apparently diplomatic correspondence between the Pakistani ambassador to Washington and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad.

During the speech, Khan claimed the document was proof he was being threatened and that his ouster was a U.S. conspiracy, allegedly executed by the military and the government in Pakistan. Washington and Pakistani officials have denied the claim.

Khan's party said in a statement that it stands with Khan and Qureshi, "who defended Pakistan and stood for real independence." PTI described the proceedings as a "sham trial" and said the judge did not even allow Khan and Qureshi's lawyers to defend them.

However, the party asked his supporters to remain peaceful and not resort to violence, pending an appeal of the ruling through legal channels.

During the trial, the PTI feared Khan could be sentenced to death for treason. Khan has maintained his innocence and says he didn't disclose the exact contents of the cable. Qureshi was accused of manipulating the contents of a diplomatic cable to gain political advantage.

'Very light sentence': Khan's rivals

Khan succeeded Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in the 2018 parliamentary election.

The Pakistan Muslim League of Sharif, 74, is considered the front-runner to win the upcoming elections.

Sharif, who returned from self-exile in London late last year, was elected prime minister in 1990, 1997, and 2013. He fled after his 2017 ouster as leader and subsequent corruption convictions he blamed on the country's influential military.

Shairif was acquitted in one corruption case in late 2023 and saw another conviction overturned by the Islamabad High Court, clearing his path to contest next week's election.

The Pakistan Muslim League said the verdict was not harsh enough.

"I think, based on his carelessness and crime — pertaining to important national interests — this is a very light sentence," Ahsan Iqbal, a senior Sharif aide, said in a TV interview.

The Feb. 8 elections come at a sensitive time in Pakistan, which is mired in an economic crisis and recently received a bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Pakistan's human rights commission has said there is little chance of a free and fair parliamentary election since so many candidates from Khan's party have been rejected.

Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's Pakistan People's Party is also contesting the elections. He is the son of two-time prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated at a rally in 2007.