Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan has been sentenced to three years in jail for engaging in the illegal sale of state gifts.
This came as a court on Saturday, August 5, 2023, gave its ruling on what is known as the Toshakhana case, in which Khan was accused of illegally selling gifts from heads of state worth hundreds of millions of rupees.
Last October, Pakistan’s election commission began investigating allegations that Khan had bought several of the valuable gifts, including an antique watch given to him by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and sold them for undeclared profit.
Toshakhana is the government department that stores official gifts given to rulers and government officials.
The judge found that Khan had “deliberately submitted fake details” of the gifts to the court and had been involved in corruption. After expressing his displeasure that Khan’s lawyers were not in court, he sentenced him to three years in prison.
“His dishonesty has been established beyond doubt,” the judge wrote. “He has been found guilty of corrupt practices by hiding the benefits he accrued from national exchequer wilfully and intentionally,” the order added.
The verdict includes a 100,000-rupee fine ($355) which, if not paid, could amount to a further six months in jail.
Khan, 70, was arrested by the police from his home in Lahore immediately after the court gave the ruling. According to the state Information Minister, he was taken to Islamabad.
Calling it a case of “political victimisation,” Khan’s lawyer, Intezar Hussain Panjutha, disclosed that they would be appealing against the ruling.
“Khan was not given an opportunity to defend himself and give his side of the story. We wanted to provide witnesses in his favour but he was not allowed this opportunity. Khan was not given a fair trial.”
Intezar Hussain Panjutha
Meanwhile, Information Minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb asserted that the government had nothing to do with the verdict or the arrest.
“Khan was given free and fair trial. It went on for a year and out of more than 40 hearings, Khan only turned up for three,” Aurangzeb stated.
Aurangzeb stressed that Khan had been given every opportunity to defend himself against the charges. “Instead Imran Khan used the time to delay the court proceedings and went back and forth to the high court and supreme court to halt this case,” she said.
Aurangzeb added that Khan has been “proven guilty of illegal practices, corruption, concealing assets and wrongly declaring wealth in tax returns.”
The prison sentence could bar the former Prime Minister from politics as the law states that people with a criminal conviction cannot hold or run for public office. While a superior court can suspend the conviction, it is the country’s election body that can ultimately disqualify Khan from politics.
“Murder Of Justice”
Imran Khan’s political party, known as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or PTI, condemned the ruling. Rauf Hasan, a PTI Spokesman, labelled the trial as the “worst in history and tantamount to the murder of justice.”
Senior PTI leader, Asad Umar also criticised the ruling in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Today’s decision does not meet the basic principle of law and justice should be seen. This decision will not stand in the Supreme Court. And meaningful decisions about politicians are made in the hearts of the people, not in the courts.”
Asad Umar
According to Lawyer Abdul Moiz Jaferii, while the case against Khan was relatively strong compared to other pending charges, the methodology used by the court was “farcical.”
Jaferii opined that the judge could have ordered Khan to present himself at the trial or could have requested him to be brought in by police. Had he then failed to appear, the court would have been legitimised to proceed with the trial in absentia.
“What he absolutely should not have done was to proceed with the ruling in his absence” and risk it be invalidated, the lawyer said.
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