Imran Khan arrested after a Pakistani court sentenced the former prime minister to three years in jail

LAHORE, Pakistan, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Police arrested former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore on Saturday after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts, which could prevent the leader from of the opposition participate in the next elections.

Legal experts say a guilty verdict reached by an Islamabad district court could eliminate Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s biggest rival in a national election expected in November.

“The police arrested Imran Khan at his residence,” Khan’s lawyer, Intezar Panjotha, told Reuters. “We are filing a petition against the decision in the high court.”

The arrest is the latest in a series of blows that have weakened Khan’s political position after he fell out with Pakistan’s powerful army and his party split.

Lahore Police Chief Bilal Siddique Kamiana confirmed the arrest and told Reuters the politician was being transferred to the capital Islamabad. He would later be held at Adiala Central Jail in Rawalpindi, near the capital, according to the arrest warrant.

Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said in a statement that it had already filed another appeal with the Supreme Court on Saturday.

Khan, 70, is a former cricket star who carved out a political career and served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022. He has denied any wrongdoing and in a pre-recorded video speech released by his party called on his supporters to protest peacefully. .

“By the time they hear this statement, they will have arrested me. I only have one call: don’t stay silent at home. I am fighting for you and the country and the future of your children,” he said.

The sentence came a day after Pakistan’s top court temporarily stopped district court trial. It was not immediately clear why the trial had gone ahead despite the high court’s decision.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a broadcast statement that Khan’s arrest followed a full investigation and proper legal proceedings in a lower court. She said his arrest was not related to the upcoming election.

A copy of the court verdict, shared by Khan’s legal team, said he had made false statements in connection with the acquisition of official state gifts.

“He has been found guilty of corrupt practices by knowingly and intentionally concealing the benefits he accumulated from the national treasury,” the verdict said.

“He cheated by providing information about gifts he obtained from Toshakhana (the state gift repository) which later turned out to be false and inaccurate.”

DRIVING TO THE ELECTIONS

Police surrounded Khan’s residence in Lahore after the verdict was delivered, Pakistani media and a Reuters witness reported, but there were no immediate signs of unrest in the hours after his arrest, unlike last May.

Then his arrest and detention for several days in a separate case sparked political turmoil and deadly clashes between his supporters and the police.

Subsequently, thousands of Khan’s aides and supporters have been arrested, according to the Minister of the Interior. Many pro-Khan MPs were also arrested and distanced themselves from Khan, with some resigning from politics.

Prime Minister Sharif has proposed that parliament is dissolved on August 9, three days before the end of his term, according to political sources, paving the way for a general election in November.

A PTI official said Vice President Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a former foreign minister, would lead the party in Khan’s absence.

Khan was convicted by the court in a case first investigated by the election commission, which found him guilty of illegally selling state gifts while prime minister.

He was charged with misusing his position as prime minister to buy and sell state-owned gifts received during overseas visits worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000).

Khan has been accused in a series of cases since he was ousted from the post of prime minister in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022.

Once criticized for being controlled by powerful generals, Khan’s ouster that year came amid worsening relations between him and then-army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Khan has said that the army, under the command of General Asim Munir, continues to target him and his party in an attempt to keep him out of the elections and prevent him from returning to power. The army denies it.

Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore, Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam in Karachi and Charlotte Greenfield in Islamabad; Edited by William Mallard, Simon Cameron-Moore, Frances Kerry, and Giles Elgood

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