The same sentence was handed down on Shah Mehmood Qureshi, vice-president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who served as foreign minister under Khan.
Digital Desk: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison, less than two weeks before the country votes in an election his party has been hamstrung from contesting.
Khan's sentence was handed down inside Adiala jail, where he has been confined for much of the time since his August arrest and buried under an avalanche of court cases he says have been orchestrated to prevent his return to office.
The same sentence was handed down on Shah Mehmood Qureshi, vice-president of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who served as foreign minister under Khan.
"Former prime minister Imran Khan and PTI vice-president Qureshi have been sentenced to 10 years each," a spokesman for the party told AFP.
The convictions and punishments were also publicized by state media.
Both men were charged in connection with alleged leaks of secret government documents.
Khan served as prime minister from 2018 until 2022, when the country's military rulers abandoned him and a no-confidence vote resulted in his removal.
He led an extraordinary campaign of disobedience against the top brass while serving as the opposition leader, accusing them of orchestrating an assassination attempt that left him injured and of forcing him out through a conspiracy supported by the US.
Following Khan's temporary incarceration in May of last year, Islamabad exploited the ensuing turmoil to legitimize a broad crackdown on the PTI, which resulted in the defection or disappearance of numerous prominent leaders.
"This is a murder of justice," political analyst and human rights advocate Tauseef Ahmed Khan declared.
"But his popularity among the people will grow in leaps and bounds as his sympathisers will increase because of this gross injustice."
In the lead-up to elections, PTI has been virtually silent in the public domain.
The candidates are now compelled to run as individuals, and the party has lost its election symbol.
In the meantime, Nawaz Sharif, the leader of one of the dynasty parties that have ruled Pakistan historically, has returned from self-imposed exile and witnessed the courts overturn a number of his convictions.
Experts interpret it as an indication that the three-time former prime minister is the preferred choice of the senior leadership, who have dominated Pakistan directly for most of its history.
Elections must be held in Pakistan within ninety days of the dissolution of parliament, which took place in August five months ago, in accordance with the country's constitution.
The need to redrew constituency boundaries after a fresh census in 2023 was cited by the election commission as the reason for the delay.
A caretaker administration, trusted by the military establishment, has been in charge of Pakistan in the interim.
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