Alwaght- A Pakistani court indicted Imran Khan for leaking state secrets, adding to the huge volume of legal turmoil that the former prime minister has met since his removal in April 2022.
“He has been indicted today and the charge was openly read out,” said Shah Khawar of the Federal Investigation Agency outside Adiala Jail in Islamabad, where Khan is imprisoned, Pakistani broadcaster Geo TV reported on Monday.
Khan’s former deputy, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has also been indicted in the state secrets case.
A spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) party said the men were charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act in a closed-door trial, adding the ruling would be “challenged”.
Legal turmoil
Khan, who led Pakistan from August 2018 to April 2022, is charged with leaking a diplomatic letter between Washington and Islamabad that he says points to the role of the United States in forcing him out of office. The US and Pakistan have denied the claim.
Khan, a former cricket star turned politician who has a large grassroots following in the South Asian state, was deposed by a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022 over accusations of economic mismanagement.
His downfall came after he fell out with the country’s powerful military establishment and tried to dissolve parliament, an act the country’s Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional. He has since faced a slew of criminal charges — in cases ranging from terrorism to contempt of court to blasphemy.
Despite his removal — and the criminal accusations — Khan has retained huge popular support. After he was briefly jailed in May 2023, his supporters took to the streets in nationwide protests that sometimes erupted into violence.
Pakistan’s military responded with a fierce crackdown, rounding up thousands of Khan’s supporters and forcing almost the entire PTI leadership underground. Many have since left the party.
In August, Khan was convicted of corruption and sentenced to three years in jail. While that charge was later suspended, he has remained behind bars pending the court ruling on his state secret charge. He is also barred from running in upcoming elections in January 2024.
