Former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has reacted to his and his spouse Bushra Bibi's conviction in the 190-million-pound (Al-Qadir Trust) case. The reaction comes minutes after an accountability court in the federal capital sentenced him to 14 years in prison and his wife to seven years on Friday.

 

Khan and Bibi have been fined Rs. 1 million and Rs. 0.5 million, respectively. If they fail to pay the fines, the ex-prime minister will serve an additional six months, while Bushra Bibi will serve three more months.

 

According to the verdict, ex-PM Imran Khan has been convicted of "corrupt practices" and "misuse of authority," while the former First Lady has been sentenced for "involvement in illegal activities." Accountability court judge Nasir Javed Rana directed the authorities to place the Al-Qadir Trust University in the federal government's custody.

 

The 148-page verdict mentioned that Bibi's role was limited to aiding and abetting the corruption offences, which is considered a mitigating circumstance in her sentencing.

 

Following the announcement of the 190-million-pound verdict, she has been taken into custody.

 

“Bushra Bibi is entirely innocent in the Al-Qadir Trust case. The only purpose for including her in the case was to increase pressure on me. Even before this, Bushra Bibi was unjustly jailed for nine months,” the official account of former Premier on X (formerly Twitter) posted a message after the Al-Qadir Trust case verdict.

 

In October 2024, Bushra Bibi was granted bail after nine months of incarceration in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, in the Tosha Khana case.

 

Imran Khan stated in his official X handle: “By convicting me in the baseless Al-Qadir (University) Trust case they [installed regime] will make a mockery of themselves all over the world and cause themselves deep embarrassment. My sentencing is being sought in a case where neither have I derived a single penny of personal gain, nor the government has suffered a single penny of financial loss.” 

 

“We will be writing a letter to Justice Aminuddin Khan [the head of the Supreme Court’s Constitutional Bench] to hear our petition about human rights violations. Our innocent people were subjected to brutal mental and physical torture while in military custody. Hearings on our petitions must be made a top priority. As we are not getting justice from any court in Pakistan, we have completed preparations for sending letters to international human rights organizations and to the United Nations in this regard. Qazi Faez Isa and Aamir Farooq have consistently acted as the establishment's opening batsmen, and the newly formed constitutional bench is merely an extension of this.” read the post on Khan's X account.

 

The £190 million case involves allegations that Imran Khan and others, in 2019, adjusted Rs 50 billion — equivalent to £190 million at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government during his tenure as the country's Prime Minister.

 

The amount in question pertains to assets of a property tycoon, which were seized by the NCA during PTI's rule. The British crime agency had stated that the amount was to be passed to the Government of Pakistan, as its settlement with the Pakistani property tycoon was “a civil matter, and does not represent a finding of guilt.”