Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi have been sentenced to 10 years in jail each for leaking confidential information.
PTI leader and former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and his close aide Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been sentenced to 10 years in jail each under the Official Secrets Act in the cipher case. Judge Abdul Hasnat Zulkarnain of the special court hearing this case has given this decision today. Imran Khan is lodged in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail and the verdict in this case was pronounced there. This decision of the special court is being considered as a big blow for Imran Khan who was still dreaming of contesting the elections. It is believed that after being sentenced to 10 years in jail, the way for both of them to contest elections has been closed.
Imran Khan's party PTI has strongly criticized this decision. PTI has issued a statement saying that its legal team will challenge this decision in the high court. The party alleged that the media or the general public were not allowed to participate during the hearing of the case and the verdict was delivered in a hurry. PTI said that no court hearing can change what happened in March-April 2022. The law has been made a mockery of in this case. The party appealed to the people to vote for 'real freedom' in the general elections to be held on February 8.
Imran Khan's party raised questions on the decision: Imran Khan's party PTI raised questions on the court's decision. He said that this is a sham case. Our legal team will challenge this decision in the High Court and hopefully get this sentence stayed. He said that this is a hasty decision.
What is Imran Khan cipher case?: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party Chief Imran Khan was found guilty of making confidential diplomatic documents public during a public meeting. This incident happened during Imran Khan's tenure as Prime Minister. The document that was made public was sent by the Pakistani Embassy in the US. That document has reportedly not been recovered from Imran Khan. While making confidential documents public, Imran Khan had alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to topple his government at the behest of America. Shortly after this incident, in April 2022, Imran Khan's government was ousted from power through a no-confidence vote. More than 150 cases have been registered against Imran Khan since he was ousted from power.
Imran Khan has been convicted in the second case pending against him. Earlier, Imran Khan was also convicted in the Toshakhana case on August 5. Imran Khan was sentenced to three years in jail in the Toshakhana case.Also Read: Shoaib Malik match fixing in BPL? Contract canceled due to 3 no balls