Former Pakistani PM Imran Khan.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Karachi, Pakistan: Former Pakistani Prime Minister and cricket star Imran Khan was jailed for 14 years on Wednesday on charges of illegally selling state gifts, a day after he received a 10-year sentence for leaking state secrets.
The convictions come days before a national election scheduled for February 8.
Here are some facts on how these sentences influence his political future, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, and the upcoming election:
- Khan, 71, was already barred from holding public office for five years following an earlier graft conviction, which ruled him out of next week's polls.
- Wednesday's sentence extends that ban on Khan from holding public office to 10 years, which means he could not be prime minister again until 2034.
- The convictions also mean Khan, in jail since August, will not be able to come out of jail to campaign for his party's candidates in the election.
- Khan's absence has already left his party in disarray, with many key aides jailed, on the run, or having abandoned him in the face of a spate of legal challenges.
- There are a number of candidates backed by Khan and his party that are contesting next week's election, but there are no big political names to carry his party in his absence.
- PTI is temporarily being led by a little known lawyer, Gohar Ali Khan, who is also Khan's legal counsel.
- On Jan. 14, Khan's party was stripped of its traditional electoral symbol of a cricket bat in a court ruling, which means his candidates are contesting as independents.
- Even if PTI-backed candidates win, as independents they are not bound to stay with the party and are open to joining other parties - and Khan remaining in jail for the foreseeable future increases the chances of this.
- The support of victorious independent candidates in the aftermath of the polls will be crucial for any party vying to secure the numbers necessary in parliament to form a government.