The former prime minister and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were convicted to 14 years in prison on Wednesday in connection with the Toshakhana case, dealing another setback to Imran Khan and his party.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a new reference against the two in an accountability court last month for keeping a set of jewelry that they had acquired from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia despite its low-value estimate.
Important points
Including the conviction from the cipher case the day before, this is Imran's third conviction. He has already withdrawn from the general elections scheduled for February 8.
"What's causing your haste?" Imran queries the judge throughout the trial.
Earlier the previous month, an accountability court in Islamabad had accused Imran and Bushra in the reference. In the referral, the anti-graft agency said that Imran and his spouse had accepted 108 presents from various foreign dignitaries and leaders of state when he served as prime minister.
Eight days remain before the general elections on February 8, which the PTI is running amid a state crackdown and without an electoral symbol. The decision was rendered today.
Imran is now convicted for the third time. Imran and his foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were sentenced to ten years in jail for violating state secrets by a special court created under the Official Secrets Act one day prior.
Imran and Bushra were fined Rs. 787 million apiece and prohibited from holding any public office for ten years, as per the ruling rendered today. The PTI founder was introduced to the court during the hearing, however his spouse was not there.
After closing the prosecution's witnesses' opportunity for cross-examination, the judge ordered Imran and his spouse to record their statements by Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which gives him the authority to question the accused.
The PTI attorney Latif Khosa's son, Shahbaz Khosa, had been Imran and Bushra's legal representative in the case. But when it came time for the witnesses to be cross-examined, attorney Zaheer Abbas Chaudhry showed up in court and produced Imran's Power of Attorney.
When he asked for extra time to get ready for the trial, the prosecution responded by pointing out that Chaudhry was the defense's ninth attorney and calling it a stalling ploy.
Bushra Bibi recorded her statement in the Toshakhana case yesterday following the procedures of the cipher case, but Imran was unable to do so. The judge denied Imran's defense team's plea for the court to allow cross-examination to resume at that session.
The hearing was held today at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, where the former premier is being held, by Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir.
The former prime minister said, "My statement is in the [prison] room," in response to a question from the court on his statement after his presence was recorded. All I was asked to do was record attendance.
He was then instructed to "not waste the court's time" by providing his statement right away.
"What is causing your haste? Regarding the decision in the cipher case, the former prime minister remarked, "Even yesterday, the conviction was announced in haste."
On August 5, he was found guilty in a different Toshakhana case and given a three-year jail sentence. Imran's request to have the conviction's suspension lifted was later denied by a division bench, despite the Islamabad High Court (IHC) having stayed his sentence.
"My attorneys have not yet arrived. Imran stated that he had simply attended court to sign an attendance sheet and that he would submit the statement after displaying it to them when they arrived.
The court convicted the former premier and his wife in absentia after he left the chamber.
After the verdict was announced, Bushra went to Adiala Jail, where the NAB team was waiting, by the court's orders to turn himself into the police. After that, she was arrested by the anti-graft monitor.
In a subsequent announcement, Chief Commissioner Rana Waqas of Islamabad proclaimed Imran's Banigala home to be Bushra's temporary detention facility as of right now. The superintendent of Adiala Jail requested that the notification be sent, and it was.
PTI calls the ruling a "destruction of the law."
The PTI declared, "Destruction of every existing law in Pakistan in two days," in response to the conviction.
The party said that Imran and his wife were facing "yet another kangaroo trial in which no right to defense was given to both" in a post on X.
"This lawsuit has no foundation to stand in any higher court, just like a cipher. The PTI said, "It's disgusting how the law is completely disregarded and mocked."
"Big question marks arise on our judicial system now," it stated in another statement. Trial court action in the Cipher and Toshakhana instances revealed a flagrant contempt for the law.
Aleema Khan, Imran's sister, claimed that the modern "judicial system has buried itself."
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, the head of the PTI, stated that the conviction was "not only injustice but cruelty." He stated that the NAB was "withdrawing cases filed against a certain party" while also administering "severe punishments just to make one leader happy," seemingly referring to the PML-N.
"We were not given time, were not permitted cross-examination, despite there being a lawyer present," he stated in an interview with Geo News.
Bushra, according to him, had "no relation" to the Toshakhana case, and no case gift was entered in her name.
He told PTI followers to keep their cool and concentrate on the next elections, saying that the purpose of this was just to put pressure on Khan Sahib.
Senior attorney and PTI leader Hamid Khan claimed that two convictions in two days demonstrated how every rule and regulation of a fair trial was circumvented.
No legal conditions were met, and there was no authorization given to present witnesses. Speaking to Geo News, he stated, "The statements under Section 342 were not even properly recorded."
PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan declared that the party would file an appeal with higher courts on both the cipher and Toshakhana convictions.
Omar Ayub Khan, the secretary general of the PTI, also declared that the party will challenge both the Toshakhana and the cipher convictions in higher courts, as stated by Hamid.
"By guaranteeing a huge voter turnout on February 8, 2024, we should harness and channel these energies," Ayub said.
Why does this system have such a strong need to reveal itself? PTI leader Shahbaz Gill said the party was "hurt" by what was occurring but was pleased with Imran's "bravery" when Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra of the PTI was questioned.
Ali Zafar, a lawyer and PTI senator stated that the decision was hurried and that the conviction would be viewed as a mistrial if cross-examination was prohibited.
Shahbaz Khosa, he said, had been the attorney from the start of the Toshakhana trial. He emphasized that the supporting group of attorneys was "not a replacement" for the lead attorney.
Zafar emphasized that neither the presentation of their witnesses nor the ability to cross-examine the prosecution's witnesses was granted to Imran and Bushra's attorneys. According to the PTI senator, the party has applied to get a copy of the court ruling.
Intazar Hussain Panjutha, a PTI lawyer, asserted that Imran was punished even though there were no witnesses in the cases against him.
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