Policemen escort Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan (C) upon his arrival at the high court in Islamabad on May 12, 2023. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi / AFP)
Islamabad: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and his wife were sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in jail after being found guilty of graft in a case involving gifts he received while premier.
The verdict, a week before national elections, comes a day after Khan was given a prison sentence of 10 years in a case related to leaking state secrets.
"Another sad day in our judicial system history, which is being dismantled," a spokesman for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party told media.
It was not immediately clear if Khan's sentences were to run consecutively or concurrently following a trial held inside the jail where he has been detained for much of the time since his arrest in August.
But Khan's lawyer Salman Safdar confirmed to AFP he had been sentenced alongside his wife, Bushra Bibi, who had been on remand throughout the trial.
"Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi have been sentenced. Bushra Bibi has not been arrested as yet," Safdar said.
The pair married in 2018, months before Khan was elected prime minister.
About 127 million Pakistanis are eligible to vote on election day next Thursday, with Khan and PTI at the centre of debate despite being squeezed out of the limelight.
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