(Image source from: Cnbctv18.com)

A Pakistani court on Friday found former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi guilty in a serious embezzlement case and sentenced Khan to 14 years in prison. Khan has been in custody since August 2023 after being accused of nearly 200 crimes, but his party claims the conviction was used to silence him. After his sentencing, Khan told reporters in the courtroom: "I will not make any agreement and I will not ask for compensation." An anti-corruption court sitting in a prison near the capital Islamabad, where Khan is being held, brought charges related to the Al Qadir Trust, a charitable foundation founded by Khan and his wife. Judge Naseer Javed Rana said: "The prosecution has found guilty in the case" and sentenced Khan to 14 years in prison and Bibi to seven years. Bibi, a faith healer who was recently released on bail, was arraigned in court by his spokesman Meshaal Yousafzai after being found guilty. Khan claims that this incident was politically motivated and aimed at preventing his return to power.

Analysts say the prison sentence was used to pressure Khan to stay out of politics and accept a deal with the military, and that sentencing was postponed several times last month. Since his ouster from power in 2022, Khan has waged an unprecedented campaign to publicly criticize the country's powerful generals. Khan has four previous convictions, two of which were expunged and two of which were suspended. However, he is still in prison due to pending cases. A UN panel of experts concluded last year that Khan's detention "has no legal basis and appears aimed at barring him from running for political office." Khan was barred from taking part in February's general election and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party faced widespread repression. Although the Tehreek-e-Insaf won more seats in the polls than any other party, it lost power to a coalition of parties seen by military officials as vulnerable.