Imran Khan and his wife get another 17 years of jail time over fraud case involving state gifts - as sons decry his 'barbaric' treatment

Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to another 17 years in jail following a corruption case involving state gifts.  

The former Pakistan prime minister, 73, was found guilty of breaking the country's rules on gifts alongside his wife after she received a luxury jewellery set from Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman during a 2021 state visit.

The couple are already serving prison sentences and the new convictions, 10 years for criminal breach of trust and seven for criminal misconduct, will run concurrently with their previous terms.   

Prosecutors claimed the pair profited by buying the jewelleryfor $10,000, compared with their market rate of $285,521, before selling them.

The ruling is the latest legal setback for Khan, who has faced a multitude of cases since his government was removed from power in 2022.

Khan, incarcerated since 2023 on more than 150 charges including leaking state secrets and selling state gifts, has denied the charges and accused authorities of political persecution.

He has been held in solitary confinement in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, in what his sons describe as a 'death cell'.

His family feared he died earlier month and were barred, alongside Khan's lawyers, from visiting him in November. 

Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to another 17 years in jail following a corruption case involving state gifts

Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to another 17 years in jail following a corruption case involving state gifts

The former cricketer has been held in solitary confinement in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, in what his sons Kasim and Sulaiman (pictured) describe as a 'death cell'

The former cricketer has been held in solitary confinement in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, in what his sons Kasim and Sulaiman (pictured) describe as a 'death cell'

'He’s in a death cell. What they are doing to my father is barbaric,' Kasim Khan, 26, told The Times.   

The former cricketer is 'being held in a 6ft by 8ft cell, usually kept for those on death row', Kasim and brother Sulaiman, 29, claim, 'allowed no reading material apart from the Quran and given dirty brown water to drink and wash with'.    

Under Pakistani law, government officials must declare all gifts, but are allowed to keep those below a certain value or buy them back at a discount.

Saturday's sentencing came on charges of undervaluing a jewellery set and is separate from an earlier case, linked to luxury watches also presented by Prince Mohammed, in which Khan was sentenced to 14 years and Bibi seven.

In a post on X, the former prime minister's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said that the latest conviction by a 'kangaroo court is just to prolong Imran Khan's illegal, unjust incarceration'.

'The entire world knows these cases are politically motivated,' it added.

Party spokesman Syed Zulfikhar Bukhari said that the ruling 'ignores basic principles of justice'.

'Criminal liability has been imposed without proof of intent, gain or loss, relying on a retrospective reinterpretation of the rules,' he said.

Khan's family have ratcheted up their efforts to draw attention of his prison conditions.

In a recent interview with Sky News, his son Kasim said his father was in 'complete isolation' and not even allowed to communicate with guards.

'It's all kind of psychological torture tactics. No contact with family, no contact with personal physician or anything like that. They use these tactics to try and completely isolate him,' he said.

Pictured: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party protesting for the release of Khan outside Islamabad High Court

Pictured: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party protesting for the release of Khan outside Islamabad High Court

His ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith has also pleaded for help, revealing their sons have not seen him in 22 months and accusing X of stifling criticism of his imprisonment

His ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith has also pleaded for help, revealing their sons have not seen him in 22 months and accusing X of stifling criticism of his imprisonment 

Pakistan's government has repeatedly rejected such allegations. 

Khan's ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith has also pleaded for help, revealing their sons have not seen him in 22 months and accusing X of stifling criticism of his imprisonment.

'X is the only place left where we can still tell the world he is a political prisoner without basic human rights,' she said in a post on the platform. 

'Yet every time I post about him, the reach inside Pakistan (and often globally) is throttled to almost zero,' she claimed.

'You promised free speech, not “speech but no one hears it”. Please fix the visibility filtering on my account so we can get the message out!'

Last year, she claimed that the electricity to her ex-husband's cell had been cut and that he was no longer allowed time outdoors.

'He is now completely isolated, in solitary confinement, literally in the dark, with no contact with the outside world,' Goldsmith wrote in October 2024.

Khan initially rose to the premier post in 2018, where he enjoyed popular support as the former Pakistani cricket captain.

But after falling out with the king-making military establishment, he was banished from power in a no-confidence vote in 2022.

However, his legal woes were only just beginning as he became entangled in a legal saga, where he was accused of wrongdoing in around 200 cases.

He claimed the charges were orchestrated by the country's powerful generals in a bid to prevent his comeback.

Supporters of the opposition party (PTI) hold pictures of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan during a protest in November

Supporters of the opposition party (PTI) hold pictures of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan during a protest in November

Pictured: Party supporters of Imran Khan gather outside Adiala prison on November 27, 2025

Pictured: Party supporters of Imran Khan gather outside Adiala prison on November 27, 2025

In November 2022, Khan was shot and wounded in an assassination bid after he accused military bosses of plotting.

Meanwhile, his court battle sparked unrest and mass protests in Pakistan as many took to the streets in support of the widely popular cricket player.

Khan was voted in by millions of Pakistanis who grew up watching him play cricket, where he excelled as an all-rounder and led the nation to a World Cup victory in 1992.

His premiership saw an end to decades of political dominance by dynastic parties, while he looked to create a national welfare state.

But his PTI party made little headway in improving the country's finances, with galloping inflation, crippling debt and a feeble rupee undermining economic reform.

Many prominent opposition figures were jailed during his tenure, and rights groups decried a crackdown on media freedoms, with TV channels unofficially barred from airing his opponents' views.

With the tables now turned, he faces many of those same curbs alongside his wife Bibi - a reclusive faith healer who married Khan shortly before he was elected. 

Khan's family and party members protested outside the jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, demanding to see him. 

His sisters Noreen Niazi, Aleema Khan and Dr Uzma Khan claimed they were 'brutally' assaulted outside the prison while demanding to see their brother.

Prison rules allow Khan to meet outsiders at least once a week, although jail authorities can suspend such access.

There have been long gaps spanning weeks when Khan was not allowed to meet outsiders, the party said.

Khan's first short-lived arrest in May 2023 sparked nationwide unrest, some of which targeted military facilities and which sparked a widespread crackdown against PTI. 

He was barred from standing in February 2024 elections and was hit by a trio of fresh convictions just days before a poll marred by rigging allegations. 

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