ISLAMABAD: A special court on Saturday sentenced PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 17 years imprisonment in the Toshakhana-2 case.
The case pertains to the purchase of an expensive Bulgari jewellery set, gifted to Imran by the Saudi crown prince during an official visit in May 2021, at a throwaway price. During the proceedings, the prosecution contended that the PTI founder retained the jewellery set, valued at approximately Rs80 million, after paying only Rs2.9m.
The verdict was delivered by Special Judge Central Shahrukh Arjumand during a hearing held at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, where Imran is incarcerated.
Imran was sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison; he was awarded 10-year rigorous imprisonment under sections 34 (common intention) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Pakistan Penal Code, and seven years under Section 5(2) (criminal misconduct by public servants) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Bushra Bibi was also sentenced to a total of 17 years’ imprisonment under the same provisions.
Both of them were also fined Rs16.4 million. As per the law, a failure to pay the fines will result in additional jail time.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Imran’s jail term in the case would begin after his sentence in the £190 million corruption case ended.
The court order, a copy of which is available with media, said, “This court, while passing sentences has considered the old age of Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, as well as the fact that Bushra Imran Khan is a female. It is in consideration of both said factors that a lenient view has been taken in awarding lesser punishment.”
It added that the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was “hereby given to the convicts”.
Imran and Bushra Bibi were indicted in the case last year in December. Earlier this year in October, the two had denied all allegations in case, terming it a fabricated and politically motivated attempt to disqualify Imran from politics.
Imran, imprisoned since August 2023, is serving a 14-year sentence at the Adiala jail in a £190 million corruption case and also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act related to the protests of May 9, 2023. Bushra Bibi is also serving a seven-year sentence in £190 million corruption case.
PTI slams verdict
The PTI, in a post on X, said that Imran’s family was not allowed inside the jail, where a “kangaroo court announced the verdict of the Toshakhana 2 case”.
“A closed-door jail trial is neither free nor fair; it is in fact a military trial,” the party said. It also shared a video of Imran’s sister Aleema Khan inside a car asking why she was not being allowed to proceed further.
“They can’t stop us. The jail trial is today,” she said in the video, adding that it was “illegal” that the family was being stopped.
Later, Aleema, while speaking to the media, criticised the verdict and alleged that decisions against Imran were being delivered under a pre-written script.
“Even at night, I felt they wanted to announce the verdict quickly, taking advantage of the foggy weather,” she remarked, questioning the logic behind the timing of the decision.
Aleema claimed that those behind the cases were “not intelligent people” and that she failed to understand their scripts.
“What difference does it make whether you sentence them to ten years or fourteen years? Earlier, you already gave them 14 years,” she said.
“Our patience and the patience of the people has run out,” she said, adding that the alleged plan was to announce a new decision every six months. “The people of Pakistan will not allow this to happen anymore,” she warned.
According to Aleema, Imran’s family had been expecting such a verdict for the past two months. She also questioned the legality of the treatment being meted out to Bushra Bibi, asking why she had been kept in what she described as illegal solitary confinement.
Separately, PTI leader Salman Akram Raja stated that the case was being conducted on the basis of promissory notes and lacked credible evidence. “They have no witnesses except the person whom the PTI founder himself brought forward,” he said.
He described the case as absurd and based on the weakest possible testimony. “A person stands up and says pressure was put on him, and you accept that as evidence,” he added, in an apparent reference to a witness statement in the case.
PTI leader Omar Ayub also condemned the judgment. In a post on X, he said that the sentences awarded to the former prime minister and his wife were those of a “Kangaroo court”.
“There is no rule of law in Pakistan,” Ayub added.
A detailed statement released by the PTI’s Central Media Department rejected the sentence against the former prime minister and his wife, terming it “unconstitutional, illegal, ill-intended” and the “worst form of political revenge”.
The party alleged that Imran and Bushra Bibi’s lawyers were not present at the time of the verdict was announced. “Neither were their families allowed to come to court, nor were basic judicial requirements fulfilled,” PTI said.
“This is open contempt of court, contempt of law and contempt of justice,” the party said.
The party further stated that the sentence was the “second for the same charge, which is a clear violation of the Constitution of Pakistan, criminal law and the international principle of double jeopardy”.
The party alleged that the courts had become an “instrument of political engineering, rather than being an independent forum”.
It said that the “sole” purpose of this court was to “prolong the illegal imprisonment of Imran and provide temporary support to the rulers who are afraid of the mandate of the people”.
Minister says sentence to run consecutively
Separately, Information Minister Tarar said the punishment was a “consecutive sentence”, adding that it would begin after the sentence in the £190 million corruption case ended.
Speaking to Geo News, the minister welcomed the judgment, asserting that the former prime minister and his wife had “committed fraud” by getting the gifts undervalued and retaining them for personal use.
He said that PTI founder and his wife’s actions were a “breach of public trust”.
“During the trial, when these gifts were properly assessed, it emerged that[..] the actual price was quite high,“ he said. He further stated that the two had “committed fraud” by undervaluing the gifts and retaining them for personal use.
“They had no right to harm the exchequer and retain gifts,” he stressed. He said the judgment was “completely fair and grounded in the principles of justice”.
“The misuse of office, dishonesty with the government’s property, and criminal breach of trust, all of it has been proven,” he said.
Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik, while speaking with Geo News, remarked that the judgment was “in line with the Constitution and the law”.
He stressed that “there was no political side to this, if you violate the law, it is clear that a punishment is expected”.
“The trial that went on for 15-16 months, it was proven that PTI founder and his wife caused the national exchequer significant harm as the set’s valuation was under-reported,” Malik said.
“The gift was not even submitted,” he added.
Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani said that the judgment came after lengthy legal proceedings. Speaking to Geo News, he noted that the case followed a similar pattern to that of the Toshakhana-I reference.
“The state was given a gift that was not deposited, which they were legally bound to do according to the procedure for acceptance and gifts in Toshakhana,“ he said.
“Unfortunately, Bushra Bibi and Imran Khan attempted to buy the set at throwaway rates,“ he said. He asserted that all the facts had “now been established in light of today’s judgement”.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah also addressed the sentence while speaking to the media in Chiniot, saying state gifts did belong to the person, but the state.
He said the entire case against Imran was documented.
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