Imran Khan given 10-year jail term in run-up to Pakistan general election

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for leaking official secrets, amid a crackdown on his political party before the general election due next week.

- Hannah Ellis

The sentence is the harshest yet against Khan, who has been held in jail since August after he began to openly criticise the country's military.

The case relates to a diplomatic cable that allegedly went missing while in his possession. Khan publicly cited the cable as proof that the US had been part of a conspiracy behind his fall from power in 2022 but he denied taking it from the ministry of foreign affairs.

The legal proceedings were highly unusual, held not in a courtroom but in the prison in Rawalpindi where Khan was being detained. They were conducted behind closed doors, which Khan's lawyers protested was unconstitutional.

Khan described the trial as "ajoke" and a sham, as both the prosecution and defence teams were governmentappointed lawyers and his lawyers were not allowed to cross-examine witnesses. The court refused Khan's request that senior army figures testify as witnesses.

Khan's former adviser Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari said: "It was obvious that it was a predetermined decision and verdict, Imran Khan's legal team was not even given a chance to speak.

"This was only done in such a rush to convict Imran Khan prior to the upcoming election. The hearings were not done lawfully and we will challenge it in the high court." Khan's deputy, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who pleaded not guilty in the same case, was sentenced to 10 years under the official secrets act.