Imran Khan and wife sentenced for state gift fraud

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to further jail terms in a fraud case involving state gifts.

They were found guilty of violating Pakistan’s gift rules after Bibi received luxury jewelry from Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman during a 2021 state visit.

The pair were already serving prison terms for previous convictions and the new sentences – 10 years for criminal breach of trust and seven years plus a fine for criminal misconduct – will reportedly run concurrently with their previous sentences.

Khan has called the charges politically motivated, and his lawyer told BBC News his team planned to challenge the verdict.

After the sentencing, the former prime minister’s lawyer Salman Safdar told the BBC in an interview that Khan and his wife did not attend the hearing.

Mr Safdar said their legal team only learned of the verdict late on Friday night, after regular court hours.

Safdar said they planned to challenge the High Court ruling.

The case is the latest in a series of charges against the cricket star-turned-politician, who has been detained since August 2023. In January this year, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison in another corruption case.

He has faced charges There were more than 100 cases involving leaking state secrets and selling state gifts. The BBC was unable to confirm the exact figures against him.

The jewelry case, known as Toshakhana 2 in Pakistan, involves a set of Bulgari jewelry given to Bushra Bibi by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a 2021 state visit, according to court documents.

Under Pakistan’s rules on state gifts, these items are owned by Pakistan’s Toshakana department (treasury), but politicians can buy them back.

Khan allegedly asked a private company to undervalue the jewels and then buy them back at a significantly reduced price.

As well as jail terms, the pair were fined more than 16 million Pakistani rupees (£42,600).

Khan was previously acquitted in another Toshakana case.

The former leader has other pending cases.

They include terrorism charges related to the violent protests that took place on May 9, 2023, when he was arrested.

Khan served as Pakistan’s prime minister until April 2022, when he was ousted in a vote of no confidence.

Although he has not been seen in public, his social media accounts continue to operate, with messages posted on X often appearing following prison visits.

These individuals are highly critical of Pakistan’s current government and its politically powerful military Field Marshal Asim Munirincluding posts calling him a brutal dictator.

In November, he refused to accept any visitors for nearly a month.

After campaigning by his family and political party, his sister was allowed to visit in early December. Hours after she met him, a comment posted on his account claimed Khan had called Field Marshal Asim Munir a “mentally unstable person.”

Since then, Khan’s family has not been allowed to visit.

Khan and his wife were present during the sentencing, but reporters were not allowed to observe, according to prison officials.

The verdict stated that the judge gave a lighter sentence because of Khan’s “advanced age.”