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5d ago

Pakistan Anti-Terrorism Courts Hand 10-Year Terms to PTI Leaders and Supporters

Defence lawyers will appeal 10-year terms that intensify the crackdown on Khan’s party after the May 9 protests.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan pauses as he speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo
A supporter of Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan hold his portrait during a protest
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Overview

  • Eight senior PTI figures, including former ministers Yasmin Rashid and Mehmoodur Rashid, ex-governor Umar Sarfraz Cheema and Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, received 10-year sentences in Lahore over the May 9, 2023, riots targeting military sites.
  • In Sargodha, Punjab Assembly Opposition Leader Malik Ahmad Bhachar and more than three dozen PTI members and supporters were handed identical decade-long prison terms for anti-government violence.
  • Anti-terrorism courts in Lahore acquitted former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the same case, although he remains in custody on other charges.
  • Defence counsel Burhan Moazzam announced plans to appeal the verdicts, citing inconsistent rulings against individuals charged under the same allegations.
  • Imran Khan remains incarcerated on multiple corruption and state-secrets charges as the crackdown on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party underscores wider civil-military tensions.