Election commission bans Pakistan's ex-PM Imran Khan from running for office for 5 years

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan who last week was convicted on corruption charges, has been disqualified from running for office for five years, the country's election commission said.

In a brief notice published Tuesday, the Election Commission of Pakistan said Khan has been disqualified from being a political candidate under the country's Constitution over his conviction.

Khan, a former cricket star and current leader of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, helmed the country from August 2018 to April 2022 when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote as he was accused of mismanaging the South Asian nation's economy and foreign policy.

Since his dethroning, the 70-year-old has been at the center of controversy, being charged with several offenses including under the terrorism act last August on allegations of threatening officials during a speech he gave as he fought for his political life.

On Saturday, Khan was arrested and sentenced to three years' imprisonment and a fine following an Islamabad trial in which he was found guilty of "corrupt practices" for profiting off the sale of state gifts he was given during his time in the prime minister's office.

The gifts were valued at some $635,000.

The PTI -- which described its chairman's arrest over the weekend as a "kidnapping" and his conviction as having been handed down by a "kangaroo court" -- rejected the election commission's announcement on Tuesday, saying they will challenge Khan's ban in the Supreme Court.

"The election commission's notification is an indication of behind closed doors plans and unnatural and illegal interference in politics," the PTI said in a statement published to X. "The bias of the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding Tehreek-e-Insaf and the chairman of the Tehreek-e-Insaf is not hidden from the nation."

Earlier Tuesday, the PTI held a core committing meeting during which its members "unanimously" declared that "Mr. Imran Khan will remain the chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf for life," according to a separate statement.

Khan on Tuesday also filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court challenging his conviction, Dawn reported.