Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at another prison sentence for former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, espionage accusations against Brazil’s deputy intelligence chief, and a Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap.
“Condemn Me. It Does Not Matter.”
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sentenced to 14 years in prison each on Wednesday for selling state gifts while Khan was in office without properly disclosing it. This is the second major verdict issued against the opposition leader in the past two days and comes just over a week before Pakistan holds general elections on Feb. 8.
The so-called Toshakhana (or state treasury) case accused Khan and Bibi of selling and retaining more than $500,000 worth of gifts, including perfume, jewelry, dinner sets, and Rolex watches. In addition to the prison sentences, the couple was issued a $5.3 million fine and Khan was barred from holding public office for the next 10 years. In August 2023, Khan was also sentenced to three years in prison for selling state gifts, which barred him from holding office for five years, meaning he was already ineligible to run in the Feb. 8 election. However, Wednesday’s sentence now means that the 71-year-old Khan will not be able to hold public office until he is 81 years old. Khan is already in a prison in Rawalpindi, but his wife will be allowed to serve her prison time at Khan’s Islamabad hilltop mansion.
On Tuesday, Khan was also convicted of revealing state secrets and sentenced to 10 years behind bars. Prosecutors accused the former prime minister of leaking an encrypted diplomatic cable in March 2022 to try to prove that parliament’s no-confidence vote against Khan was part of a conspiracy (backed by the nation’s military and the United States) to remove him from power, allegations that both parties deny.
It is unclear if the 14- and 10-year rulings will run concurrently. Khan’s legal team denies the charges, accusing a “kangaroo court” of holding “sham,” rushed proceedings. His lawyers said on Wednesday that Khan plans to appeal both cases to Pakistan’s high court. In response to the sentencing on Tuesday, Khan shared a quote by former Cuban leader Fidel Castro: “I know that imprisonment will be harder for me than it has ever been for anyone, filled with cowardly threats and hideous cruelty,” Khan posted on X, formerly Twitter. “Condemn me. It does not matter. History will absolve me.”
Pakistanis are set to vote on the National Assembly’s 342 seats next Thursday despite major crackdowns against the country’s main opposition party, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Khan remains popular among voters, with a December 2023 Gallup poll showing his approval ratings at 57 percent versus expected winner and three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s 52 percent. Khan urged his supporters to “take revenge for every injustice with your vote on Feb. 8 while remaining peaceful.”
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What We’re Following
Espionage claims. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva fired deputy intelligence chief Alessandro Moretti and four department heads for allegedly spying on former President Jair Bolsonaro’s opponents, authorities announced on Tuesday. Federal police accused Moretti of passing information to Alexandre Ramagem, former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (known as Abin) and a close Bolsonaro ally. The probe also accused Carlos Bolsonaro, one of the former leader’s sons, of being part of the suspected “political nucleus” inside Abin that ordered the espionage campaign.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court revealed documents last Thursday in which Abin was accused of having used Israeli spyware FirstMile to eavesdrop on public figures critical of Bolsonaro, including three Supreme Federal Court justices and a speaker in Brazil’s parliament. Last week, police raided Ramagem’s home and office, and on Monday, a judge authorized a similar investigation into Carlos’s properties. Bolsonaro condemned the charges and said his family was being persecuted. Lula dismissed Bolsonaro’s anger, saying, “The Brazilian government doesn’t give orders to the federal police, much less the courts.”
Prisoner exchange. Russia and Ukraine announced a successful prisoner swap on Wednesday, just one week after Moscow accused Kyiv of shooting down a Russian plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war. Russia’s military said it received 195 soldiers on Wednesday, and Ukraine said it welcomed home 207 soldiers and civilians. The United Arab Emirates helped mediate the negotiations.
Neither side has claimed responsibility for last week’s plane crash, which is said to have killed all 74 people on board when it exploded near the two nations’ shared border in the Belgorod region. Kyiv has not confirmed whether any of the people killed were Ukrainian soldiers. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a U.S. Patriot system was used to down the military transport flight. Both Moscow and Kyiv have called for an international investigation.
Article 23 is back. Hong Kong kicked off proceedings on Tuesday to enact a controversial national security law. The proposed legislation, known as Article 23, would focus on five areas of offense: treason, insurrection, stealing state secrets, sabotage, and external interference. If approved, it would further hinder political dissent and more closely align with mainland China’s policies.
In 2003, Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, tried to pass a similar law, but large pro-democracy protests forced the government to abandon it. Additional mass demonstrations in 2019 pushed Beijing to impose a strict national security law of its own on Hong Kong the following year. Under the 2020 restrictions, Hong Kongers can be punished if they are believed to be colluding with foreign actors or engaging in terrorism or subversion.
Odds and Ends
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland is playing “Where’s Wally?” with a Japanese macaque roaming the Scottish Highlands this week. The cheeky monkey fled its enclosure at the Highland Wildlife Park in Kingussie on Sunday and has been on the run ever since. Drone footage sighted the escapee near the park’s entrance late Tuesday, but dense tree cover helped the monkey evade capture. Maybe the search team will try wanted posters next.