Imran Khan has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for revealing state secrets.
This is yet another blow for Pakistan’s former prime minister, the former cricket star turned Islamist politician who was ousted through 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 party, or PTI, 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 is expected to appeal the conviction at 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.