ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested Saturday after a courtroom handed him a three-year jail sentence for corruption, a growth that would finish his future in politics.The courtroom dominated that Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 however stays the nation's main opposition determine, had hid property …
ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested Saturday after a courtroom handed him a three-year jail sentence for corruption, a growth that would finish his future in politics.
The courtroom dominated that Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 however stays the nation’s main opposition determine, had hid property after promoting state items. Police moved shortly to take the previous cricket star from his house within the japanese metropolis of Lahore to the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, senior police officer Ali Nasir Rizvi mentioned.
Efforts to place the divisive politician behind bars have stepped up forward of normal elections this yr as a result of his recognition and enormous assist base, mixed together with his skill to mobilize huge crowds, pose a menace to the ruling coalition and its backers in Pakistan’s highly effective army that has been the ultimate arbiter of the nation’s politics since independence from Britain
That is the second time this yr that Khan has been detained, becoming a member of different former Pakistani prime ministers who’ve been arrested and seen army interventions through the years. He has been slapped with greater than 150 authorized instances since his elimination from workplace, together with a number of on prices of corruption, terrorism and inciting folks to violence over lethal protests after his arrest in Might when his followers attacked authorities and army property throughout the nation.
The jail sentence might bar Khan from politics forward of this yr’s elections underneath a legislation that claims folks with a felony conviction can’t maintain or run for public workplace. His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf get together, or PTI, mentioned it would problem the choice.
Data Minister Maryam Aurangzeb denied Khan’s arrest had something to do with upcoming elections and mentioned Khan had been given each alternative to defend himself towards the asset concealment prices.
“As an alternative Imran Khan used the time to delay the courtroom proceedings and went forwards and backwards to the excessive courtroom and supreme courtroom to halt this case,” she mentioned.
Aurangzeb added that Khan has been “confirmed responsible of unlawful practices, corruption, concealing property and wrongly declaring wealth in tax returns.”
His former political secretary, Aun Chaudhry, mentioned Saturday’s occasions will assist political stability, whereas Overseas Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari described the day’s developments as comeuppance for Khan.
PTI spokesman Rauf Hasan described the asset concealment trial because the “worst in historical past and tantamount to the homicide of justice.”
In Lahore, a gaggle of pro-Khan attorneys reached his Zaman Park house and chanted slogans protesting his conviction and arrest. In the identical metropolis, supporters of a rival political get together handed out sweets to rejoice the detention.
Khan’s get together launched a video message exhibiting him at his Lahore house behind a desk with the Pakistani and PTI flags within the background. It wasn’t instantly clear when the recording was made.
He instructed his supporters that he could be in jail by the point the message reached them and that they need to not keep quietly of their properties.
“I’m not doing this for my freedom,” he mentioned. “I’m doing it for my nation, you, your youngsters’s future. For those who do not rise up to your rights, you’ll reside the lifetime of slaves and slaves should not have a life.”
He urged folks to peacefully protest till they get their rights, specifically a authorities of their alternative by way of voting and “not the one like right this moment’s occupying energy.”
Khan was shifted Saturday night to a high-security jail in Punjab’s Attock district that’s infamous for its harsh circumstances. Its inmate inhabitants embrace convicted militants and militants awaiting trial.
Khan is the seventh former prime minister to be arrested in Pakistan. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was arrested and hanged in 1979. The present prime minister’s brother, Nawaz Sharif, who additionally served as prime minister, was arrested a number of instances on corruption allegations.
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Babar Dogar contributed from Lahore.
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