Imran calls for nationwide protests after 17-yr jail term

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan has urged his supporters to gear up for countrywide protests following a 17-year jail term handed to him and wife Bushra Bibi in a corruption case.

Khan and Bushra were sentenced to 17 years in jail each by a court on Saturday in the Toshakhana 2 corruption case. Khan, 73, who has been in jail since August 2023, faces multiple cases launched against him since his ouster from power in April 2022. The Toshakhana 2 case involves alleged fraud in state gifts that the former first couple received from the Saudi government in 2021.

In a conversation with his lawyers in Adiala Jail after the “military-style trial decision”, Khan urged his supporters to stand up in protest after the decision, according to a midnight statement posted on Khan’s X account. It was not known who posted his conversation on his personal account as Khan has no access to his social media handles in jail.

“I have sent a message to (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister) Sohail Afridi to prepare for the street movement. The entire nation will have to rise for its rights,” he said. He added: “Struggle is worship, and I am even ready to embrace martyrdom for the true freedom of Pakistan!”

He argued that the latest sentence did not come as a surprise and asked his legal team to move the high court against the decision.

“Like the baseless decisions and sentences of the last three years, the Toshakhana-II decision is also nothing new to me. This decision was given in haste by the judge without any evidence and without fulfilling the legal requirements,” he said, adding that his legal team was “not even heard”