Imran Khan calls for nationwide protests after 17-year jail sentence

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan urged his supporters to gear up for countrywide protests following a 17-year jail term handed to him and wife Bushra Bibi in a corruption case.

Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sentenced to 17 years in jail each by a court on Saturday (December 20) in the Toshakhana 2 corruption case.

Khan, 73, who has been in jail since August 2023, faces multiple cases launched against him since his ouster from power in April 2022. The Toshakhana 2 case involves alleged fraud in state gifts that the former first couple received from the Saudi government in 2021.

In a conversation with his lawyers in Adiala Jail after the “military-style trial decision” Khan urged his supporters to stand up in protest after the decision, according to a midnight statement posted on Khan’s X account.

It was not known who posted his conversation on his personal account as Khan has no access to his social media handles in jail.

“I have sent a message to (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister) Sohail Afridi to prepare for the street movement. The entire nation will have to rise for its rights,” he said, and added: “Struggle is worship, and I am even ready to embrace martyrdom for the true freedom of Pakistan!”

He argued that the latest sentence did not come as a surprise and asked his legal team to move the high court against the decision.

“Like the baseless decisions and sentences of the last three years, the Toshakhana-II decision is also nothing new to me. This decision was given in haste by the judge without any evidence and without fulfilling the legal requirements,” he said, adding that his legal team was “not even heard”.

He also said that it was inevitable for the Insaf Lawyers Forum, a group of lawyers to his Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, and the legal community to come forward for justice.

“For the struggle to establish the supremacy of law and restore the Constitution, it is essential for the Justice Lawyers Forum and the lawyers’ front to come to the forefront. Only the system of justice can protect the people. Without it, neither economic progress nor moral development is possible,” he said.

He also targeted the army’s leadership for his detention, but in the same vein said that the “army is mine”, showing his effort to win its support while attacking the top leadership of the armed forces.

Khan also alleged that he and wife were being “continuously subjected to mental torture by keeping us in solitary confinement”.

“There is a ban on our books, TV, and meetings. Every prisoner in jail can watch TV, but even watching TV has been banned for me and Bibi Bushra,” he alleged.

Khan has been incarcerated since August 2023 in case launched after he was removed from office though a no-trust vote in April 2022.

The Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet Division that stores gifts given to rulers and government officials by heads of other governments and foreign dignitaries. Once deposited, the gifts can be bought back following proper rules and procedures.

In October 2024, Bushra was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court in this case, and a month later, Khan was also granted bail in the same case. They were indicted in December last year.