Imran Khan, former Prime Minister of Pakistan is sentenced to 10 years in prison on 30 January for alleged leaking of government secrets during his term as Prime minister. This judgment created a huge discussion in Pakistan as the general elections are closer.
10 years prison sentence
Pakistan court on Tuesday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek -e-insaf (PTI) Party Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi to 10 years in prison for the crime of leaking government secrets, popularly known as the Cypher Case.
In the last general elections of Pakistan in 2018, no party got a majority. However, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led by former cricketer Imran Khan emerged as the single largest party and he became Prime Minister with the support of other parties. Lately in April 2022, a major party left the coalition led by the PTI party and joined the opposition. This led to a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan in Parliament which forced him to resign.
Then Shebaz Sharif who was in the opposition party became Prime Minister. After losing office, Imran Khan was accused in various cases including corruption, fraud and death threats. The Islamabad trial court was investigating the case. In this case, the court found Imran Khan guilty and sentenced him to 3 years in prison. He was also disqualified from politics for the next five years from contesting any election.
What is Cypher case?
The so-called cypher case is one among the cases filed against him. In this case, Imran Khan was alleged to have leaked confidential messages sent by the Washington ambassador to Islamabad during his tenure. Though he denied these allegations against him as politically motivated, the court declared 10 years imprisonment for him and he was also barred from contest in election for 5 years. His followers condemned this judgement.
As the general elections for Pakistan is going to be held on 8 February, his PTI party is affected by this judgment and erased from the election campaign.
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