Key PointsPakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan was arrested after a court sentenced him to three years in prison.Khan was found guilty of unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.Legal experts say the guilty verdict could end Khan’s chances of participating in national elections.
Police have arrested Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan in the eastern city of Lahore, his lawyer says, after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts.
The 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician was accused of misusing his premiership to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad and worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($964,000). Khan has denied any wrongdoing.
Legal experts say the guilty verdict reached by an Islamabad district court could end Khan’s chances of participating in national elections that have to be held before early November.
“Police have arrested Imran Khan from his residence,” Khan’s lawyer Intezar Panjotha told Reuters on Saturday.
“We are filing a petition against the decision in the high court.”
Lahore’s Police Chief Bilal Siddique Kamiana confirmed the arrest and told Reuters the politician was being transferred to the capital, Islamabad.
Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said in a statement it had already filed another appeal to the Supreme Court earlier on Saturday.
Khan’s arrest and detention for several days in May over a separate case sparked mass protests in Pakistan. Source: EPA / Shahzaib Akber
Pakistani media and a Reuters witness described police surrounding Khan’s residence in Lahore on Saturday after the verdict was released, but there were no immediate signs of unrest in the hours after his arrest, unlike last May.
Khan’s arrest and had sparked intense political turmoil and deadly clashes had erupted between his supporters and police.
Khan arrested ahead of November election
Khan’s latest arrest comes with an election just months away. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has proposed that parliament be dissolved on 9 August, three days before the end of its term, according to political sources, paving the way for a general election by November.
Khan has been charged in a string of cases since being ousted from the premiership in a no confidence vote in Pakistan’s parliament in April 2022. Once criticised for being under the thumb of powerful generals, Khan’s ouster came following worsening relations between him and then army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
He has said the army, under current chief General Asim Munir, is continuing to target him and his party in a bid to keep him out of the elections and prevent him from returning to power. The army denies this.
