Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan Found Guilty in Toshakhana Case, Gets 3-year Jail Term

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has been found guilty in the Toshakhana case and has been sentenced to three years in jail.

The PTI chairman was Saturday arrested from his Zaman Park house, his party said in a tweet.

An Islamabad trial court on Saturday declared Imran Khan guilty of “corrupt practices” in the Toshakhana case, Pakistani newspaper The Dawn reported.

Rejecting Khan’s petition seeking inadmissibility of the case, Judge Dilawar sentenced the former prime minister to three-year imprisonment.

“Charges of misdeclaration of assets have been proven against PTI chairman,” the Additional and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar mentioned in his judgment.

He then handed Khan three years in jail along with a fine of Rs100,000, while issuing his arrest warrant.

This comes after a Pakistani high court on Friday set aside the verdict of a lower court and asked it to rehear a corruption case in which the embattled former prime minister was accused of profiting from selling expensive state gifts when he was in power.

Analysts believe that Mr Khan’s arrest only adds to the growing instability and diminishes any chance of a resolution between the former PM and the establishment, be it the government or the army.

The 13-member coalition which is in power – led by Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif – says it has “nothing to do with the arrest”, which followed due process.

But others say Mr Khan’s arrest benefits the government because he would be disqualified from contesting elections, possibly for life.

Mr Khan’s rise to the top of Pakistani politics was almost as meteoric as his sporting career. He even managed to recast himself from a playboy cricketing icon into a pious politician as he sought the top job in the country.

But the army – which many believe had allied with him on his route to the PM’s chair, despite denials from both parties – now appears to be on the other side.

What that means for Mr Khan and Pakistan is still unclear because the country finds itself in uncharted waters.