RAWALPINDI: In yet another blow to Imran Khan and his party, the former premier and his wife Bushra Bibi on Wednesday were sentenced to 14 years in jail in the Toshakhana reference.
Last month, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a fresh reference against the two in an accountability court for retaining a jewellery set received from Saudi crown prince against an undervalued assessment. An Islamabad accountability court had indicted Imran and Bushra in the reference earlier this month. The anti-graft watchdog alleged in the reference that during his term as prime minister, Imran and his wife had received a total of 108 gifts from different heads of state and foreign dignitaries.
The verdict comes eight days before the February 8 general elections, which the PTI is contesting amid a state crackdown and without an electoral symbol.
Today’s conviction is Imran’s third. A day earlier, a special court established under the Official Secrets Act sentenced Imran and his foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to 10 years in prison for the breach of state secrets.
Previously, he was convicted in a separate 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.
According to the verdict delivered today, Imran and Bushra were barred from holding any public office for 10 years and slapped with a fine of Rs787 million each. While the PTI founder was presented during the hearing, his wife did not appear before the court.
The judge had already closed the right of cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses and asked Imran and his spouse to record their statements under Section 342 (power to examine the accused) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Shahbaz Khosa, PTI lawyer Latif Khosa’s son, had been representing Imran and Bushra in the case. However, when the stage of cross-examining the witnesses arrived, lawyer Zaheer Abbas Chaudhry appeared before the court and submitted a Power of Attorney from Imran.
He sought more time to prepare for the case, at which the prosecution pointed out that Chaudhry was the ninth counsel from the defence side and termed it a part of delaying tactics.
A day ago, after the cipher case proceedings, Bushra Bibi recorded her statement in the Toshakhana case, though Imran could not. During that hearing, Imran’s legal team had requested the court to restore the right of cross-examination but was turned down by the judge.
Today, accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir conducted the hearing at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where the former premier is incarcerated.
After his attendance was marked, the court asked him about his statement, to which the former premier replied: “My statement is in the [prison] room. I was only called for marking attendance.”
He was then told to submit his statement immediately and “not waste the court’s time”.
“Why are you in a hurry? Even yesterday, the conviction was announced in haste,” the ex-prime minister said, referring to the verdict in the cipher case.
“My lawyers are not here yet. I will submit the statement after showing it to them when they come,” Imran said, adding that he had appeared before the court only to mark his attendance.
He then exited the courtroom, after which the court sentenced the ex-premier and his wife in absentia.
Following the verdict’s announcement, Bushra arrived at Adiala Jail, where the NAB team was already present, to surrender to the authorities following the court’s directives. She was subsequently taken into custody by the anti-graft watchdog.
PTI terms verdict ‘complete destruction of law’
Reacting to the conviction, the PTI said, “Complete destruction of every existing law in Pakistan in two days.”
In a post on X, the party said Imran and his spouse had faced “yet another kangaroo trial in which no right to defence was given to both”.
“Like cipher, this case has no basis to stand in any higher court. It’s shameful how a complete disregard and mockery of the law is in place,” the PTI added. In another post, it said, “Big question marks arise on our judicial system now. How the cipher and Toshakhana cases were conducted exposed a complete disregard of law by trial court.”
