Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 17 years in prison after a Pakistani court found them guilty of illegally retaining and selling valuable state gifts.
The sentence, handed down today, Saturday, December 20, 2025, capped a years-long saga that saw the duo accused of selling various gifts, including jewellery from the Saudi Arabian government, at far below market value while he was in office. The couple pleaded not guilty when they were indicted last year.
In order to keep gifts from foreign dignitaries, Pakistani law requires officials to purchase them at market value and to declare profits from any sales.
However, prosecutors claimed that the couple profited from the items after purchasing them at an artificially low price of $10,000, compared with their market rate of $285,521.
The 73-year-old former leader served as Pakistan’s Prime Minister from 2018 until April 2022, when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote.
He was imprisoned starting in August 2023 on various charges of corruption and revealing state secrets, all of which he has denied and claimed to be politically motivated. He has been acquitted of some charges.
An internationally famous cricket player in the heyday of his sporting career, Khan remains popular in Pakistan, with his imprisonment leading to protests throughout the last two years.
His party, Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI is in opposition in the parliament. His party made a strong showing in the February 8, 2024, parliamentary election but did not win a majority of the seats in the National Assembly, or lower house of the parliament. The party claimed the vote was rigged. The government denies such claims.
Khan’s main political rival, Shehbaz Sharif, is the country’s current Prime Minister. Since his ouster, Khan has repeatedly alleged that his removal was the result of a US-backed conspiracy carried out with the support of Pakistan’s powerful military; claims denied by Washington, the military and his opponents.
Imran Khan And Wife’s Sentencing Slammed
Khan’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, said that he would appeal the ruling on behalf of the former Premier and his wife.
Khan’s Spokesperson, Zulfiquar Bukhari, said that the sentencing ignored basic principles of justice. In a statement, he said that the “criminal liability was imposed without proof of intent, gain, or loss, relying instead on a retrospective reinterpretation of rules.”
Bukhari said that the court ruling “raised serious questions about the fairness and impartiality of the process, turning justice into a tool for selective prosecution.”
Khan’s opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, also denounced the ruling in a statement. The party called it “a black chapter in history,” and said that Khan was present in the court when the judge announced the verdict in the Adiala prison in the city of Rawalpindi.
On its official X account, the party wrote that Khan’s family was not allowed access to the court when the verdict was announced. “A closed-door jail trial is neither free nor fair. It is, in fact, a military Trial,” it said.
Omar Ayub, a PTI senior leader, said on X that there was “no rule of law in Pakistan.”
Meanwhile, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar asserted that Khan and his wife were convicted and sentenced after the court examined solid evidence. He said that the couple indulged in corruption, and “the court delivered a fair decision.”
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