Former premier Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi were convicted on Friday in the £190m Al-Qadir Trust case with the PTI founder being sentenced to 14 years in prison and a seven-year jail term handed to his wife.
Judge Nasir Javed Rana announced the verdict – previously delayed three times – in a makeshift courtroom at Adiala Jail. The court also imposed fines on Imran and Bushra, amounting to Rs1 million and Rs500,000, respectively. Failure to pay the fines would result in an additional six months in jail for Imran and three months for Bushra, the court said.
According to the verdict, property of the “sham trust ‘Al-Qadir University Project Trust’ is hereby forfeited to the Federal Government within the meaning of Section 10(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999”.
“Both the convicts are present before the Court, they be taken into custody in this case and be handed over to the Superintendent Jail along with the Committal Warrant to serve the sentences so awarded,” it added.
The verdict was announced amid tight security outside Adiala Jail, following which Bushra was arrested from the courtroom. The couple was indicted in the case on Feb 27, 2024, shortly after the general elections.
Speaking to reporters inside the courtroom after his conviction, Imran rejected the notion of entering a deal with anyone to get himself freed from prison.
“I will neither make any deal nor seek any relief,” he told reporters. “Those who stand against dictatorship are punished.” A post on Imran’s X account, citing his message from jail, asked his supporters not to panic or lose hope and called the conviction a “joke.”
“I will never accept this dictatorship, and I am prepared to remain in a prison cell for as long as it takes in the struggle against this tyranny. I will not compromise on my principles or the fight for the true freedom of the nation,” the post said, adding “I will not strike any deals and will face all the baseless cases against me.”
Criticising the judiciary, the statement added: “Following the grim verdict in the Al-Qadir Trust case, the judiciary has further eroded its credibility. Judges who support tyranny and act on directives are rewarded. The judges nominated for the Islamabad High Court have only one qualification: delivering rulings against me.” Imran alleged that the case’s outcome was “known to everyone beforehand”, adding that whether it was the delay in the verdict or the discussions regarding sentencing, “everything was leaked to the media in advance.
“Such mockery has never been witnessed in the history of the judiciary. The same person who dictated the verdict to the judge also leaked it to the media.”
He further said that it would be pointless to continue negotiations with the government if there was no progress on the PTI’s demands for judicial commissions to probe the events of May 9, 2023, and November 26, 2024.
“Dishonest individuals never allow neutral umpires to intervene. The government is avoiding the demand for a judicial commission because it is dishonest.” PTI leaders, while speaking to reporters outside Adiala Jail, strongly denounced the verdict, terming it “unjust”, “shameful,” and a case of “political victimisation.” Barrister Gohar said, “The behaviour of the court has been unjust. Khan sahib has not benefitted from a single rupee from this matter.”
Gohar added that Imran was not the owner of the Al-Qadir University Project. “He is just a trustee. It is a tragedy that in a country that takes pride in holding conferences for women, a woman – who is a trustee of a philanthropic endeavour which would educate children – has been sentenced to seven years in prison. It is shameful. “We want to tell the world: Khan sahib has done no wrong. He has committed no crime. He has reaped no benefit. He has misused no authority. He does not incur any criminal liability. This is a baseless and political victimisation case. It is nothing more than a political witchhunt. God willing this will go. Khan will not give up.”
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub questioned the justice system and asked why PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s son was not questioned about taking money outside of the country against the law.
“Hassan Nawaz should have been questioned about how he took money outside the country, that was used to buy [property] in Hyde Park, but nobody asks this question. We condemn this, and we will be challenging the verdict in superior courts,” he said.