An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced eight members of Imran Khan’s party to 10 years in jail each for inciting protests that targeted military sites following the former prime minister’s arrest in 2023.
Mr Khan faces a separate trial on similar charges, with prosecutors accusing him and fellow PTI party leaders of instigating the unrest that saw protesters attack government and military sites, including the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi and a senior commander’s residence in Lahore.
Tuesday’s ruling has no direct bearing on Mr Khan’s ongoing trial, Reuters reported.
The convicted PTI members include officials of the party’s previous provincial government in Punjab such as Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mehmoodur Rashid, and Umar Sarfraz Cheema.
The trial was held behind closed doors in a prison in Lahore city.
The sentencing of its eight prominent members is the latest in a wave of prosecutions targeting Mr Khan’s PTI following his ouster in 2022.
Defence lawyers plan to appeal, citing inconsistencies in the rulings against people charged with the same offences. “It’s surprising that six people were acquitted while eight were convicted, even though they were all charged under the same allegations,” defence counsel Burhan Moazzam said.
Among those acquitted was PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The former foreign minister remains in custody on separate charges.
After Mr Khan’s arrest on corruption charges on 9 May 2023, thousands of his supporters stormed military installations in a dramatic escalation of unrest triggered by his ouster the previous year. The ensuing clashes left 10 people dead in the capital city of Islamabad and led to the arrests of around 4,000 people.
Mr Khan’s supporters, who accused the powerful military of orchestrating his ouster through a no confidence vote, targeted an airbase, multiple cantonments, the residence of a senior general, and the army headquarters after the leader was forcibly removed from a courtroom and taken into custody.
Mr Khan, 72, completes two years in prison next month. He faces around 150 charges, ranging from corruption to terrorism. His party claims all the cases filed against him are politically motivated.
