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Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan, wife Bushra Bibi sentenced to 14 years in state gifts case

The sentencing by an anti-corruption court in capital Islamabad on Wednesday comes a day after Khan was handed a 10-year jail term in another case

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 14 years in jail in a case related to illegal selling of state gifts.

The sentencing by an anti-corruption court in capital Islamabad on Wednesday comes a day after Khan was handed a 10-year jail term in another case in which he was convicted of revealing state secrets, and a week before national elections.

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It was not immediately clear if Khan’s sentences were to run consecutively or concurrently.

Khan was also handed a three-year prison sentence in August by another court for selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000) in state possession and received during his 2018-2022 premiership.

The sentence was later suspended but Khan remains behind bars in connection with other cases. He has said he legally purchased the items. Government officials have alleged Khan’s aides sold the gifts in Dubai.

Bushra Bibi had been on remand throughout the trial. The pair married in 2018, months before Khan was elected prime minister.

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The court also disqualified Khan for years from holding any public office ahead of February 8 parliamentary elections.