Pakistan’s Khan handed 10-year sentence for leaking classified cable

A court in Pakistan on Tuesday handed a 10-year prison sentence to former prime minister Imran Khan for leaking the content of a classified diplomatic cable.

A special court judge, Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain, convicted Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi after multiple hearings in the jail.

“Both the leaders have been sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment,” a spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) confirmed.

They had pleaded not guilty when indicted in October for revealing a state secret at a public rally.

“We will challenge today's court proceedings before the Supreme Court,” PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan said as he advised party workers to stay calm.

The decision comes weeks ahead of the national elections in which Khan’s party has already been pushed out of race and its leaders face restrictions.

The 71-year-old former sports star faces a flurry of charges since his removal as premier through a parliamentary vote of no confidence last year.

Weeks before his ouster in April 2022, Khan claimed the United States hatched a conspiracy with his opponents to remove him because he got close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He waved a paper at a public rally in Islamabad claiming that this cable sent by the Pakistani ambassador in the US was proof.

Khan, who was once supported by the country’s powerful military, seems unlikely to be able to return to politics after he fell out of favour with the generals, who have ruled the nuclear-armed Islamic republic for decades.