A COUNTRY NOT BY THE PEOPLE: Ex-PM Imran Khan arrested in Lahore after conviction in case involving sale of state gifts

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on Saturday in Lahore, his party said, moments after an Islamabad district and sessions court sentenced him to three years in prison in a case involving the sale of state gifts.

In October last year, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) found Khan guilty of not declaring proceeds from the sale of state gifts he received as the prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The case has popularly come to be called the Toshakhana case. After its verdict, the ECP sought criminal proceedings against the former premier from the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

On Friday, the IHC temporarily halted the trial and asked a lower court to look into whether a legal complaint filed by the country’s election commission, as part of an inquiry against Khan, constituted criminal proceedings.

“Chairman PTI Imran Khan has been arrested from his residence in Lahore,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a statement to media, adding the former premier was being moved to the Kot Lakhpat prison in the city.

The former cricket star, 70, was accused of misusing his premiership to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad and worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000).

Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar ruled on Saturday that charges against the former prime minister were proven. The court sentenced Khan to three years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on him for concealing details of the Toshakhana gifts.

Khan and his lawyers were not present in the courtroom when the judge announced the verdict. The judge directed his staff that a copy of the court order be sent to the Islamabad police chief for the execution of the court orders.

“There was no chance given to present witnesses, neither was time allotted to round up arguments meant to finish by the end of the day, today,” Khan’s party said earlier about his conviction, adding the decision was “tinted by political posturing” and “conspicuously reached at haste to keep Chairman out of electoral race.”

The party said an appeal in the Supreme Court had already been filed.

“We will be challenging the verdict in the superior judiciary as we feel that justice has not been done in this case,” PTI vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi told Arab News, raising questions over the “hasty trial and proceedings” in the case.

“Our applications and appeals have already been pending in the Islamabad High Court for adjudication in the Toshakhana case, but the district court judge has given a judgment.”

Qureshi said the party would convene a meeting of its core committee to mull a strategy following the arrest of Khan.

Attaullah Tarar, PM Shehbaz Sharif’s aide on legal affairs, said the court had found Khan guilty of misdeclaration of his assets in the statement of his wealth.

“You know elected representatives have to declare their assets with the Election Commission of Pakistan,” Tarar said in televised comments.

“Anything you do not declare counts as misdeclaration and that accounts for three-year imprisonment.”

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