Imran Khan and his wife are sentenced to prison for illegitimate marriage

2024-02-03 15:51:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Khan were each sentenced to seven years in prison by a court on Saturday on charges that they entered into an illegal marriage.

This is the third prison sentence in a few days for the former Pakistani leader.

The civil court in Islamabad said Bushra had not completed the mandatory three-month waiting period from her previous husband's divorce when she married Khan in 2018.

Khan, 71, who served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has already been sentenced to a total of 24 years in prison and banned from holding public office for a decade.

Both Khans were sentenced to 14 years in prison each on January 31 in a corruption case, a day after he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for leaking state secrets in another case, according to his party, the PTI.

The Anti-Corruption Court in Islamabad found them guilty of illegally selling state gifts worth more than $500,000 while he was prime minister from 2018 until he was ousted from power in April 2022 through a no-confidence vote.

The court has also barred Khan from holding public office for 10 years, PTI said. His wife Bushra was arrested shortly after the court announced the verdict for them.

Khan is already in prison after being sentenced to three years in prison in August by another court for selling gifts he received during his time as prime minister.

Khan has already been barred from running in the February 8 parliamentary election due to previous prison terms relating to the disclosure of a confidential diplomatic document at a public rally following his ouster in 2022.

Meanwhile, Khan claimed that the document, referred to as "Cipher", was evidence that his overthrow had been orchestrated by Pakistan's powerful military in coordination with the United States. Both the army and Washington had denied these accusations.

On October 21, 2023, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has held the post for three terms and is a bitter rival of Khan, returned to Pakistan after four years in exile and launched an election campaign with his League party. Muslims of Pakistan, holding a large rally in Lahore.

Khan's and Sharif's parties are considered the main parties in the upcoming elections.

Pakistan, a country with 241 million inhabitants, is gripped by a severe economic crisis and has experienced a rapid decline in the standard of living./ REL