Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan jailed for 10 years for leaking state secrets

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been jailed for 10 years for leaking state secrets.

Mr Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had also been sentenced to 10 years each.

The decision was announced by special court Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain during a hearing held at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

Mr Khan, who was ousted through a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022, is currently serving a three-year prison sentence over  “corrupt practices” involving the sale of state gifts.

The former cricketer’s defence team is likely to appeal Tuesday’s ruling.

PTI said it would challenge the decision and attacked a “sham case”.

The case pertains to allegations that Mr Khan had shared contents of a secret cable sent by the country’s ambassador in Washington to the government in Islamabad.

Mr Khan is alleged to have waved a confidential document — a classified cable — at a rally after he was toppled.

The document — dubbed Cipher — has not been made public by either the government or Mr Khan’s lawyers but was apparently diplomatic correspondence between the Pakistani ambassador to Washington and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad.

Mr Khan’s sentence comes ahead of the 8 February parliamentary elections in Pakistan.

Although Mr Khan will not be on the ballot, he remains a potent political force because of his grassroots following and anti-establishment rhetoric.

He says the legal cases against him were a plot to sideline him ahead of the vote.

Pakistan has seen violent demonstrations since after Mr Khan’s May 2023 arrest.

Authorities have cracked down on his supporters and party since then.

Pakistan’s independent human rights commission has said there is little chance of a free and fair parliamentary election next month because of “pre-poll rigging.”

It also expressed concern about authorities rejecting the candidacies of Mr Khan and senior figures from his party.

(This story is being updated)