Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and ex-Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were on January 30 sentenced to 10 years in jail in the Cipher case.
Special court Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain, presiding over the case, announced the decision at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. The judge has been conducting hearings at the jail since the case’s initiation last year. Alongside Imran, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi received a similar sentence.
Before revealing the verdict, Judge Zulqarnain reminded the PTI leaders that their lawyers were absent, and state lawyers had been provided.
The court noted that Qureshi and Imran were given questions under 342, but Qureshi argued that his lawyers were not present to record their statements.
Both politicians had pleaded not guilty to charges related to the alleged misuse of diplomatic cables for political purposes.
The verdict follows a disrupted hearing a day earlier, where Imran and Qureshi starting shouting. Imran, a cricket legend who played 88 Tests and 175 ODIs for Pakistan, maintained impressive averages of 37 with the bat and 22 with the ball. In the 1980s, he stood alongside star all-rounders Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee, and Kapil Dev in Test cricket.
In his last 10 years of international cricket, Imran averaged 50 with the bat and 19 with the ball in 51 Tests.
Leading Pakistan to their first series victory in England in 1987, Imran’s career pinnacle came with the Men in Green winning the 1992 World Cup under his inspirational leadership.
