[ad_1] A retired cricket legend has been sentenced to 10 years in jail, accused of leaking state secrets in a years-long political crisis. Imran Kha
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A retired cricket legend has been sentenced to 10 years in jail, accused of leaking state secrets in a years-long political crisis.
Imran Khan, who is one of Pakistan’s most famous cricketers and the country’s former prime minister, was handed the sentence on Tuesday.
It was alleged Khan had shared the contents of a secret communication, also called a cable or cipher, sent by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Khan allegedly waved the cable at a rally in Islamabad, Pakistan, claiming it was proof of a conspiracy by the Pakistani military and US government to remove him from government after he visited Moscow days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The case against Imran Khan
Khan, 71, was the captain of the Pakistan national cricket team through the 1980s and early ‘90s.
In 1996, he founded the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party, and in 2018 led it to victory, becoming Pakistan’s prime minister.
But in 2022, Khan travelled to Russia almost immediately before Russian president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
Khan said the meeting had been planned for months, but he faced criticism having met with Putin just hours after the invasion occurred, on the second day of his visit.
In April 2022, Khan became Pakistan’s first prime minister to be removed by a no-confidence vote — but he claimed to have been removed as part of a conspiracy between the US and Pakistani military due to his neutrality on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
He claimed to have a secret cable that proved his allegations and waved it at a rally in front of his supporters.
He also said the contents of the cable had appeared in the media from other sources.
The US and the Pakistan military have denied Khan’s claims of a conspiracy.
In August last year, Khan was jailed for three years on corruption charges he claimed were politically motivated.
He successfully had his jail term suspended but was hit with another case — this time an accusation of sharing state secrets relating to the diplomatic cable.
Khan was handed a decade-long sentence for those charges on Tuesday.
His former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also given a 10-year jail sentence as part of the case.
Khan’s party said it will challenge the sentence, calling it a “sham case”.
“We don’t accept this illegal decision,” Khan’s lawyer Naeem Panjutha posted on X.
Pakistan has seen violent demonstrations amid Khan’s years-long legal saga.
The country will hold elections on February 8. Khan is barred from running due to his convictions.
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