Pakistan court sentences 4 leaders of Imran Khan’s party to 10-year jail, former FM Qureshi acquitted
Following the arrest of former cricketer-turned-politician Khan, violent protests broke out across the country, especially in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on May 9, 2023. Protesters damaged dozens of military installations and government-owned buildings.
Former Punjab governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema, former Punjab health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, former Punjab minister Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed and former Senator Ejaz Chaudhry were convicted for their role in attacking and burning police vehicles in Lahore’s Mughalpura area.
The postponed decision on Thursday was announced by Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Manzer Ali Gill.
The convicts have been lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2023 and were previously convicted in other riots-related cases.
ATC acquitted Qureshi and 11 other PTI workers due to lack of evidence against them. Qureshi has also been in jail since 2023 for several other cases.
Khan, 73, has been in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail since August 2023 due to multiple cases. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) categorically rejected the ATC’s decision, calling it a “fake case”.
The party said in a statement on Saturday that the decision raised “deep concerns about due process, judicial fairness and the integrity of the trial.”
“It is clear that many people involved in May 9-related cases were not even in Pakistan when the alleged incidents took place,” PTI said.
“Such glaring inconsistencies cast serious doubt on the credibility of the broader legal process surrounding these cases,” the statement said.
The party also said that the defendants were deprived of the guarantee of a “free and fair trial” and that the trials took place in an environment of “political pressure, limited access, prolonged detentions and repeated violations of fundamental legal rights.”
The party claimed that “the outcome appears less like the administration of justice and more like a continuation of a systematic campaign to punish political opponents through the courts.”
The party said it would appeal the decision through available legal and constitutional channels.
