A Pakistani court sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 and 7 years in prison in a bribery case

Court of Pakistan sentenced the country’s already jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 and seven years in prison on Friday after finding them guilty of corruption, officials and his lawyer said.

It is another blow for the former prime minister, who has been behind bars since 2023.

The couple was accused of receiving land as a gift from a real estate tycoon in exchange for laundered money while Khan was in power.

Prosecutors say Khan then allowed businessman Malik Riaz to pay fines imposed on him in another case from the same 190 million British pounds ($240 million) in laundered money that British authorities returned to Pakistan in 2022 to deposit with the state cash register.

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Khan has denied wrongdoing and has insisted since his arrest in 2023 that all the charges against him were a plot by rivals to prevent him from returning to office.

According to Khan’s legal team, Khan laughed and his wife Bushra Bibi smiled as Judge Nasir Javed read the verdict.

Later, Khan and Bibi were taken into custody by prison officials after the verdict was announced, according to officials. She had previously served a jail term in another bribery case until a court released her on bail in October. She recently led a rally where she demanded the release of her husband.

Later, a post from Khan’s X platform account urged his supporters not to panic over the ruling, which said the al-Qadir University built by his wife’s charity would also be taken over by authorities in Punjab province.

“I will never accept this dictatorship and I will stay in a prison cell as long as I have to fight this dictatorship, but I will not give up on my principles and fight for the true freedom of the nation,” Khan wrote. Khan’s family said such posts were shared with his consent.

Faisal Chaudhry, a defense lawyer, said the court verdict could be challenged in higher courts.

Shortly after the verdict was announced, lawmakers from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, gathered outside parliament in capital Islamabad, saying that the former prime minister was wrongly punished.

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“This is a bogus case and we will approach the appeals court against this decision,” said Omar Ayub Khan, a senior party leader who is not related to the former prime minister.

Imran Khan was ousted by a vote of no confidence in parliament in April 2022, having previously been convicted on charges of corruption, disclosure of official secrets and breach of marriage laws in three separate verdicts and sentenced to 10, 14 and seven years respectively. Under Pakistani law, he must serve the sentence concurrently – meaning the length of the longest sentence.

Some of Khan’s supporters were also present outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi city, shouting anti-government slogans, demanding the release of their leader.

On Thursday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters in Islamabad that there was “irrefutable evidence” against Khan and his wife in a “mega corruption scandal”. Tarar said Khan did not even tell his cabinet members about the money being returned to Pakistan by Britain.

Tarar also claimed that Khan built a new big house in the eastern city of Lahore after giving favors to a business tycoon, and that he failed to prove where he got the money for the construction.

The latest development came a day after Khan’s PTI held a crucial round of talks with representatives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government to demand the release of all political prisoners, including Khan and other party leaders.

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Sharif became prime minister after the February 2024 elections, which the PTI claims were rigged.