75 Imran supporters get up to 10 years in jail for May 9 riots

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Monday handed down jail terms from three to 10 years to 75 leaders and workers of Imran Khan’s party for their involvement in an attack on the house of a senior PML-N leader during the May 2023 riots.

“The ATC, Faisalabad, sentenced 59 leaders and workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party to 10 years of imprisonment, three years to 16 and acquitted 34 in the attack on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Punjab president Rana Sanaullah’s house,” a court official said.

He said the court sentenced a total of 75 people out of the total 109 accused. Prominent among those convicted are former opposition leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub, former Senate opposition leader Shibli Fraz, former lawmakers Zartaj Gul Ahmad Chatha, Ashraf Khan Sohna and Sheikh Rashid Shafique (nephew of former interior minister Sheikh Rasheed) and Kanwal Shauzab. Earlier, these leaders were also convicted for 10 years each for attacking the ISI building in Faisalabad. The sentences will run concurrently.

Ex-Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry and ex-Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s son Zain Qureshi were acquitted in the case, he said.

On May 9, 2023, Imran Khan’s supporters vandalised the military and state buildings, mostly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “Under the guise of May 9, innumerable injustices have been inflicted upon ordinary citizens, families and leadership of the part,” Imran’s aide Zulfi Bokhari said. “One of the victims is Shahrez, one of Aleema Khan’s sons, who’s been remanded. When the judge declined even a cursory glance at the evidence establishing that Shahrez was not in Lahore on the 9th of May, it amounted to a most grievous miscarriage of justice,” he said.