In a dramatic escalation of what supporters call a political purge, a Pakistani court has sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, to further jail terms in a controversial “gift fraud” case, piling years onto their existing prison sentences in a move critics label a judicial vendetta.
The couple was convicted of criminal breach of trust and misconduct over the alleged undervaluation and illegal retention of a £2 million Bulgari jewellery set gifted to Bibi by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a 2021 state visit. They received 10 and 7-year sentences to run concurrently, plus a fine of over 16 million Pakistani rupees. Khan’s lawyer denounced the late-night verdict as politically motivated, vowing an immediate appeal.
The case, dubbed Toshakhana 2, centers on Pakistan’s rules for state gifts, which require such items to be deposited in a state treasury where officials can purchase them back at a declared market price. Prosecutors allege Khan used a private firm to drastically undervalue the luxury set before buying it back at a fraction of its worth—a scheme they frame as corruption.
For Khan and his millions of supporters, the charges are a transparent pretext. Khan, ousted in a 2022 no-confidence vote, has long claimed the country’s powerful military establishment is using the courts to dismantle his political movement and prevent his return to power. This verdict, delivered after normal court hours with little notice to his legal team, only fuels that narrative.
A Pyramid of Prison Sentences
The new sentences are not the first; they are the latest bricks in a towering legal prison built around Pakistan’s most popular politician. Khan is already serving a 14-year sentence in a separate corruption case and faces over 100 other charges, ranging from leaking state secrets to inciting terrorism during the violent protests that followed his arrest last May.
While his sentence in an earlier, different Toshakhana case is suspended pending appeal, the cumulative legal assault has a clear goal: to ensure Imran Khan remains behind bars through the next election and beyond. The judge’s note that he showed leniency due to Khan’s “old age” was seen by critics as a cynical addendum to a politically engineered verdict.
Why It Matters
The case transcends legalese. From his prison cell, Khan has continued to wage a social media war, with messages attributed to him on X fiercely criticizing army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir as a “tyrannical dictator” and “mentally unstable person.” The state has responded by isolating him, denying family visits for nearly a month.
This latest sentence is the system’s answer to that defiance. Each new conviction is a message: the deeper you fight, the higher the walls we will build around you. For Khan’s opponents, it is the rule of law catching up to a corrupt leader. For his supporters, it is the raw, unmasked power of the state eliminating its greatest threat—proving that in Pakistan, the most dangerous gift a politician can receive is not jewellery, but popularity.
