FORMER Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sentenced today to 14 years in prison for corruption, his lawyer and prison officials said.

This comes a day after another special court convicted Mr Khan of leaking state secrets and gave him a 10-year prison sentence.

The latest conviction and sentencing were the cricket legend turned politician’s third since 2022, when he was ousted from power, and came ahead of Pakistan’s February 8 parliamentary elections. 

Mr Khan and Ms Bibi were accused in the most recent corruption case of retaining and selling state gifts when he was in power.

The court also disqualified Mr Khan for 10 years from holding any public office.

His lawyer said that the former premier was convicted and sentenced in such a hurry that the judge did not wait for the arrival of his legal team.

He said that Mr Khan’s basic human and fundamental rights had been violated, and that the latest legal setbacks would be challenged in higher courts.

“It seems that the judge was in a hurry to announce the verdict,” he said.

Chief spokesman for Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party Zulfiqar Bukhari said that the conviction and sentencing marked “another sad day in our judicial system history which is being dismantled.”

Mr Khan and Ms Bibi were indicted three weeks ago on graft charges for retaining state gifts including jewellery and watches from Saudi Arabia’s government, authorities said. They pleaded not guilty.

Ms Bibi was absent when the judge announced the verdict but later went to the court to avoid being arrested. She will be handed over to prison officials to serve her sentence.

Mr Khan was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022. 

He is serving time on a corruption conviction and has multiple other legal cases hanging over him, but remains popular with supporters who allege political persecution.