Jailed ex-premier Imran Khan barred from Pakistan politics for 5 years

AFP (File Picture)

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been convicted and jailed on graft charges, was barred from politics for five years on Tuesday, an official order said.

The order by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), seen by Reuters and confirmed by a senior officer, said Khan was disqualified in line with his conviction.

"Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi is disqualified for a period of five years," it said.

Khan's constituency would now stand vacant, the order added.

Under Pakistani law, a convicted person cannot run for any public office for a period defined by the ECP, which could be up to a maximum of five years, starting from the conviction date.

"We knew this was inevitable," Khan's aide Zulfikar Bukhari told Reuters, saying the party will challenge the disqualification in the high court.

"We're highly confident it will be reversed," he said.

Khan, who has denied any wrongdoing, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on Saturday on charges of unlawfully selling state gifts he and his family acquired during his tenure from 2018 to 2022. He was arrested at his Lahore house and taken to a prison near Islamabad.

Khan's legal team has filed an appeal seeking to set aside the guilty verdict, which Islamabad High Court will take up on Wednesday, his lawyer Naeem Panjutha said.

The petition seen by Reuters described the conviction as "without lawful authority, tainted with bias", and said Khan, 70, had not received an adequate hearing.

It said the court had rejected a list of witnesses for the defence a day before reaching its verdict, calling this a "gross travesty of justice, and a slap in the face of due process and fair trial".

The court had expedited the trial after Khan refused to attend hearings despite repeated summonses and arrest warrants.

More from International

  • Israeli forces kill dozens in deeper Gaza push

    Israeli forces killed 35 Palestinians in aerial and ground bombardments across the Gaza Strip on Thursday and battled in close combat with Hamas in areas of the southern city of Rafah, health officials and Hamas media said.

  • Iran's President Raisi to be buried in Mashhad

    Iran's late President Ebrahim Raisi is set to be buried in the holy city of Mashhad on Thursday evening, four days after he was killed in a helicopter crash along with foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and six other people.

  • Russian attack on Ukraine's Kharkiv kills six

    A Russian missile attack on Ukraine's northeastern city of Kharkiv killed at least six people and wounded at least 11 on Thursday, local authorities said.

  • China launches 'punishment' war games around Taiwan

    A furious China launched "punishment" drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to "separatist acts", sending up heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated President Lai Ching-te.

  • Nine dead, 50 injured in Mexico stage collapse

    Nine people have died and around 50 were injured after a structure collapsed at a campaign event for the Citizens' Movement party in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon.

Coming Up on Dubai Eye

  • The Business Breakfast

    6:00am - 10:00am

    The Business Breakfast is the day’s must listen for the UAE’s business leaders, and those who aspire to be.

  • The Agenda

    10:00am - 1:00pm

    Broadcasting every weekday, Georgia Tolley goes beyond the headlines to speak to government ministers, decision makers, analysts and local experts to find out how the news will impact those of us living in the UAE.

BUSINESS BREAKFAST LATEST

On Dubai Eye

  • Flying Taxis

    It sounds like an episode of The Jetsons, but the sight of flying taxis whizzing around our cities could be much closer than you think.

  • Tough penalties for deliberate tax evasion

    The UAE has said that tougher penalties will come into force from 1st August for not keeping proper corporate tax records.