Imran Khan arrested after Pakistan court sentences ex-prime minister to three years in jail

By Mubasher Bukhari and Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) – Police arrested Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore on Saturday after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts, potentially barring the opposition leader from contesting an upcoming election.

Legal experts say the guilty verdict reached by an Islamabad district court could eliminate Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s greatest rival in a national election expected to be held in November.

“Police have arrested Imran Khan from his residence,” Khan’s lawyer Intezar Panjotha told Reuters. “We are filing a petition against the decision in high court.

Lahore’s Police Chief Bilal Siddique Kamiana confirmed the arrest and told Reuters the politician was being transferred to the capital, Islamabad.

Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said in a statement they had already filed another appeal to the Supreme Court earlier on Saturday.

The conviction came just a day after Pakistan’s high court had temporarily halted the district court trial. It was not immediately clear why the trial had proceeded despite the high court decision.

Pakistan’s information minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a broadcast statement that Khan’s arrest followed a full investigation and proper legal proceedings in a trial court. She said his arrest was unrelated to the upcoming elections.

LEAD UP TO ELECTION

Pakistani media and a Reuters witness described police surrounding Khan’s residence in Lahore on Saturday after verdict was released, but there were no immediate signs of unrest in the hours after his arrest, unlike last May.

Back then, his arrest and detention for several days over a separate case sparked political turmoil and deadly clashes between his supporters and police.

Khan’s latest arrest comes with an election just months away. Prime Minister Sharif has proposed that parliament be dissolved on Aug. 9, three days before the end of its term, according to political sources, paving the way for a general election by November.

Khan was convicted by the court in a case that was first investigated by the election commission, which found him guilty of unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

Khan has denied any wrongdoing.

The 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician was accused of misusing his premiership to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad and worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000).

Khan has been charged in a string of cases since being ousted from the premiership in a no confidence vote in Pakistan’s parliament in April 2022. Once criticised for being under the thumb of powerful generals, Khan’s ouster came following worsening relations between him and then army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

He has said the army, under current chief General Asim Munir, is continuing to target him and his party in a bid to keep him out of the elections and prevent him from returning to power. The army denies this.

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