A Pakistani court on Friday, January 17, sentenced the country’s already-imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years in jail after finding him guilty of corruption, officials and his lawyer said.

       His wife, Bushra Bibi, was sentenced to seven years.

       Alongside the prison sentence, Mr Khan was fined over ￡4,000, while his wife received a fine of more than ￡2,000.

       The sentencing was held at an accountability court operating from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, which had reserved its verdict in December last year and deferred the announcement three times.

       The former prime minister and cricket star has been behind bars since 2023. His wife was arrested at the court premises.

       The couple are accused of accepting a gift of land from a real estate tycoon through the Al-Qadir Trust, which Mr Khan and his wife had set up while he was in office.

       In exchange, prosecutors say Mr Khan used ￡190million repatriated by the UK's National Crime Agency to pay for court fines imposed on the businessman, Malik Riaz Hussain, in another case.

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       Mr Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said that the land was donated to the trust for a spiritual education centre and was not used for the politician's personal gain.

       Mr Khan has denied any wrongdoing and has insisted since his arrest in 2023 that all the charges against him are a plot by rivals to keep him from returning to office.

       Faisal Chaudhry, a defence lawyer, said the court verdict could be challenged in the superior courts, and condemned the decision as "bogus persecution" against Mr Khan and his wife.

       Shortly after the announcement of the verdict, lawmakers from the PTI rallied outside the parliament in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, claiming the former leader had been wrongly punished.

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       “This is a bogus case, and we will approach an appeals court against this decision,” claimed Omar Ayub Khan, a senior party leader who is not related to the former cricket star.

       Moreover, some of Mr Khan’s supporters gathered outside the Adiala prison in the city of Rawalpindi, where they chanted slogans against the government, demanding the release of their leader.

       This marks the longest valid prison sentence Mr Khan has received. He has faced charges in more than 100 cases, ranging from leaking state secrets to selling state gifts - all of which he decried as politically motivated.

       Last year alone, Mr Khan received a 14-year jail sentence over the selling of state gifts. He was also sentenced to 10 years for leaking state secrets. Both those sentences were suspended months later.

       Mr Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022.

       On Thursday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed to reporters in Islamabad that there was “irrefutable evidence” against Mr Khan and his wife in the “mega corruption scandal.” Mr Tarar claimed that Mr Khan had not even told his own Cabinet members about the money that had been returned to Pakistan.

       The latest development came a day after Mr Khan’s PTI party held a crucial round of talks with representatives of the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to demand the release of all political detainees, including the former Prime Minister and other party leaders.

       Mr Sharif became the Pakistani Prime Minister following the February 2024 election, which PTI claims was rigged.