Pakistan ex-PM Gets 10 Years in Prison for Revealing State Secrets

Pakistan – A Pakistani court on Tuesday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to 10 years in prison on charges of revealing state secrets. 

The verdict was announced by Judge Abual Hasnat Mohammad Zulqarnain at Adiala Jail in the northeastern garrison city of Rawalpindi.

However, Khan's lawyer, Gohar Ali Khan, said that his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), would appeal the verdict at the Islamabad High Court in Gohar. 

"We will appeal this sentence in the Islamabad High Court and the Supreme Court and we hope to get justice," he stated. 

Khan's other two lawyers, Taimur Malik and Naeem Haider Panjutha, also rejected the verdict and called it an "illegitimate decision." 

"This ten-year sentence will not stand for ten days in the appellate court. This brazen disregard of the law and constitution is unprecedented," Malik told X after the verdict. 

"The way the 18 prosecution witnesses were hastily cross-examined on Saturday and then until midnight yesterday by the illegally appointed State Counsel will be a case study on the defects of justice in the future," he added. 

The decision comes after Khan and Qureshi's legal team was barred by Justice Zulqarnain from cross-examining government witnesses on Monday night. 

Malik claimed that the judge disenfranchised Khan and Qureshi from their defense team and unlawfully appointed state lawyers to represent them in court. 

Khan's legal team also expressed their distrust of the trial judge and asked him to recuse himself from the case, although he refused. 

In a statement from prison, Khan called the case a foregone conclusion and said that although the country's high court had granted him bail, the government wanted to give him a severe punishment, provoke the public, and spread disillusionment among the people. 

Khan accused the United States of overthrowing his government, a claim denied by Washington. 

"This is not a trial, but a predetermined match," Khan said and urged people to remain peaceful and vote on election day next month. 

"This is your war and this is your test that you should take revenge for every injustice through your vote on February 8 by remaining peaceful," he remarked. 

Khan is accused of disclosing state secrets when he handed over secret diplomatic letters during the 2022 general campaign.