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| Supporters of Imran Khan's party attend a rally ahead of the general elections in Karachi |
Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan and his deputy Shah Mahmood Qureshi sentenced to 10 years jail. A special in Pakistan established under the Official Secrets Act on Tuesday handed the verdicts in a state secrets case about a week before the February 8 general elections, according to a report by Dawn.
The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document that the
Federal Investigation Agency’s charge sheet alleges was never returned by
Imran. The PTI has long held that the document contained a threat from the
United States to oust Imran as prime minister.
The verdict comes just nine days before the general
elections which is supposed to hold on February 8, The PTI is contesting in the
election amid an unprecedented crackdown on its leaders and supporters and
without an electoral symbol.
Both Imran and Qureshi have been in jail in the run-up to
the elections. While Imran’s candidature was rejected, Qureshi was cleared to
run for an NA seat from the NA seat Thar. But today’s conviction means that
both of them have been disqualified from contesting elections for the next five
years.
This is Imran’s second conviction as he was also convicted
in the Toshakhana case on Aug 5, and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had suspended his sentence. However, a division
bench had later rejected Imran’s petition seeking the suspension of the
conviction.
This is the former foreign minister’s first conviction.
According to Dawn, Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat
Zulqarnain announced the verdict in the case. At the outset of the hearing,
Imran and Qureshi were given a questionnaire under Section 342 (power to
examine the accused) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
After Imran recorded his statement, the court asked him
about the whereabouts of the cipher, to which he replied: “I have said the same
in my statement that I do not know. The cipher was in my office.”
The judge then sentenced the two to 10 years in jail in the
case. After announcing the verdict, the judge stepped out of the courtroom, at
which Qureshi protested that his statement was not recorded.
PTI decries ‘sham trial’, to challenge verdict in IHC
In a post on X, PTI’s official account issued a statement saying that Pakistan stood with Imran and Qureshi “who defended Pakistan and stood for haqeeqi azadi”.
“No such sham trial can change what happened in March-April 2022, on the orders of Donald Lu,” the statement added.
“A complete mockery and disregard of the law in the cipher case shall not lead us to forget our primary responsibility in order to provide justice to Imran and Qureshi.”
The statement urged the public to come out and vote on February 8.
“God willing kaptaan and vice kaptaan will be back soon, and this sentence will be (thrown) in the dustbin in the appeal stage,” it concluded.
