FORMER Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was today sentenced to 10 years in prison for revealing state secrets.

Mr Khan’s deputy Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also handed the same sentence.

According to Zulfiqar Bukhari, spokesman for Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, the court announced the verdict at a prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Mr Khan, a former cricket star turned politician, was ousted through a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022, and is currently serving a three-year prison sentence after being found guilty of corruption.

The latest development comes ahead of the February 8 parliamentary elections in Pakistan from which Mr Khan was already barred from taking part because of his previous criminal conviction.

Authorities say Mr Khan and Mr Qureshi have the right to appeal today’s ruling in the case, which has been dubbed as the Cipher case.

Pakistan’s independent human rights commission has said there is little chance of a free and fair parliamentary election since so many candidates from Mr Khan’s party have been blocked from standing.

Mr Khan’s party described the proceedings as a “sham trial” and said that the judge did not even allow the lawyers of the accused to provide a defence.

But the party asked his supporters to remain peaceful and not resort to violence.

Mr Khan claims that the legal cases against him are a plot to sideline him ahead of the vote.

The Cipher case is one of more than 150 cases pending against Mr Khan. Other charges range from contempt of court to terrorism and inciting violence.

Mr Khan is alleged to have waved a confidential document during a rally after he was toppled as premier, claiming that it was proof he was being threatened and that his ousting was a US conspiracy, allegedly executed by the military and the government in Pakistan. 

Officials from both Washington and Pakistani have denied the claim.