Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan, former foreign minister sentenced to 10 years in prison in CYPHER case

Former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were on Tuesday sentenced to 10 years each in prison in the CYPHER case. The decision was announced by special court Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain during the hearing of the case held at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

Islamabad: A Pakistani court on Tuesday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and one of his party deputies to 10 years in prison each, after finding them guilty of revealing official secrets.

The verdict was another blow to Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician, who was ousted through a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022 and is currently serving a three-year prison sentence in a graft case.

According to Zulfiqar Bukhari, spokesman for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, the court announced the verdict at a prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Authorities said Khan and his deputy who also received a 10-year sentence, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, have the right to appeal Tuesday's ruling in the case, popularly known as the CYPHER case.

The ruling comes ahead of the Feb. 8 parliamentary elections in Pakistan — a vote that Khan is barred from running in because of his previous criminal conviction. Although Khan will not be on the ballot for the February election, he remains a potent political force because of his grassroots following and anti-establishment rhetoric. He says the legal cases against him were a plot to sideline him ahead of the vote.

Pakistan has seen violent demonstrations since after Khan's May 2023 arrest. Authorities have cracked down on his supporters and party since then. Pakistan's independent human rights commission has said there is little chance of a free and fair parliamentary election next month because of "pre-poll rigging." It also expressed concern about authorities rejecting the candidacies of Khan and senior figures from his party.

The CYPHER case is one of more than 150 cases pending against Khan. Other charges range from contempt of court to terrorism and inciting violence.

In the secrets case, Khan is alleged to have waved a confidential document — a classified cable — at a rally after he was toppled. The document — dubbed CYPHER — has not been made public by either the government or Khan's lawyers but was apparently diplomatic correspondence between the Pakistani ambassador to Washington and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad.

During the speech, Khan claiming the document was proof he was being threatened and that his ouster was a U.S. conspiracy, allegedly executed by the military and the government in Pakistan. Washington and Pakistani officials have denied the claim.

Tuesday's verdict comes weeks after Khan and Qureshi were indicted in the case.

During the trial, Khan's party and supporters had feared he could be sentenced to death for treason. Khan has maintained his innocence and says he didn't disclose the exact contents of the cable. Qureshi was accused of manipulating the contents of a diplomatic cable to gain political advantage.

Political analyst Syed Muhammad Ali said the latest verdict was expected. The two "indeed damaged Pakistan's diplomatic ties with the United States, and they also embarrassed the then-Pakistani Ambassador Asad Majeed to the United States," he said.