Police arrest Imran Khan after court gives three-year prison sentence

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan, shortly after an Islamabad trial court declared him guilty of corrupt practices in the Toshakhana case and sentenced him, was arrested by Punjab police on Saturday from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.

PTI’s Punjab Chapter confirmed the reports with a tweet: "Imran Khan is being moved to Kot Lakhpat Jail [Lahore].” However, it later proved to be wrong as the caretaker Punjab minister Aamir Mir said that Imran Khan was being shifted to Islamabad and would not be kept in Lahore.

The court sentenced Imran Khan — who was absent from the court — to three years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on him for concealing details of Toshakhana gifts. His lawyers were also not present.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar ruled that charges against the former prime minister in the case were proven.

"Imran Khan deliberately submitted fake details of Toshakhana gifts to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and is found guilty of corrupt practices,” the judge held and sent the PTI chief to jail for three years under Section 174 of the Elections Act.

The law states that a person guilty of the offence of corrupt practice shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to Rs100,000 or both.

Judge Dilawar also directed that a copy of the order should be sent to the Islamabad police chief for the execution of the court orders.

"Police have arrested Imran Khan from his residence," Imran Khan's lawyer, Intezar Panjotha, told Reuters. "We are filing a petition against the decision in high court."

His party called for peaceful protests against the decision, but there was only a limited public response on Saturday evening.

Earlier, during the hearing — which commenced at 8:30am — the judge repeatedly expressed displeasure over the absence of Imran Khan’s lawyers. He, however, gave multiple chances to the defence counsel to appear in the court.

Finally, at 12:30pm, Judge Dilawar announced the verdict. Roughly 29 minutes later, reports of Imran Khan’s arrest surfaced. Unlike previous instances, where Zaman Park Lahore was usually guarded by PTI supporters, Khan was taken into custody without any resistance. TV footage showed a large contingent of police taking him to jail.

Imran Khan’s arrest came three months after his first arrest on May 9 when he was detained in Islamabad from the high court’s premises in the Al Qadir Trust case. The arrest that day had resulted in widespread violence and saw important military installations come under attack, on the basis of which the state had launched a severe crackdown against his party.

While Imran was released the next day, thousands of PTI workers and almost the entire top-tier leadership was rounded up. What followed was a large number of senior party leaders holding press conferences, condemning the May 9 riots and disassociating themselves with the PTI - in what became pretty much a format to follow.

The May 9 arrest, the riots, the crackdown and the mass exodus left the PTI looking like a shell of itself.

The case, filed by ruling party lawmakers, is based on a criminal complaint submitted by the ECP. The case alleges that Khan had "deliberately concealed” details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana — a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept — during his time as the prime minister and proceeds from their reported sales.

According to Toshakhana rules, gifts/presents and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules apply shall be reported to the Cabinet Division. Imran Khan has faced a number of legal issues over his retention of gifts. The issue also led to his disqualification by the ECP.

On Oct.21, 2022, the ECP concluded that the former premier had indeed made "false statements and incorrect declarations” regarding the gifts. It had said Imran stood disqualified under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution.

Subsequently, the ECP had approached the Islamabad sessions court with a copy of the complaint, seeking proceedings against Imran under criminal law for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts he received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as the prime minister.

On May 10, Imran was indicted in the case. However, on July 4, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) stayed the proceeding and directed Judge Dilawar to re-examine the matter in seven days, keeping in view eight legal questions he framed to decide the maintainability of the Toshakhana reference.

The questions had included whether the complaint was filed on behalf of the ECP by a duly authorised person, whether the ECP’s decision of Oct 21, 2022, was a valid authorisation to any officer of ECP to file a complaint, and whether the question of authorisation was a question of fact and evidence and could be ratified subsequently during the course of proceedings.

Finally, on July 9, Judge Dilawar while ruling that the reference was maintainable, revived the stalled proceedings and summoned the witnesses for testimony.

A session court had last month declared that the ECP reference against the PTI chief was maintainable. The decision was subsequently challenged in the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

A day earlier, the IHC gave a short breather to Khan, asking the judge to re-examine the jurisdiction and any procedure lapse in the filing of the complaint by the ECP.