3 February 2024, 13:55 GMTUpdated 45 minutes agoImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi posted bail last JulyA Pakistani court has sentenced Imran Khan and his wife to seven years in prison after declaring their marriage invalid, marking the latest legal action against the former prime minister. The court determined that Khan’s marriage to Bushra Bibi, a faith healer, in 2018 was not in accordance with Islamic law and was therefore illegal. Khan is already serving a jail sentence for corruption. Just a week before a general election, the couple was found guilty of unlawfully benefiting from state gifts.Khan, 71, claims that the various charges against him are politically motivated.After being ousted as prime minister in 2022, the former cricket captain-turned-politician now faced a court set up inside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where he is serving previous sentences.The complaint was filed by Bibi’s former husband, who alleged that her marriage to Khan was fraudulent.Under Muslim family law, women are forbidden from remarrying for a certain period after the death of their husband or after divorce. The court found that Bibi remarried before the prescribed waiting period following her divorce.Besides the seven-year prison term, the court imposed a fine of 500,000 rupees ($1,800; £1,420) on Khan and Bibi.The couple got married in 2018, just months before Khan was elected as prime minister. Bibi, a spiritual healer believed to be in her 40s, always wears a veil in public, and is Khan’s third wife.Known for his playboy reputation during his cricket career, Khan had a high-profile marriage with British socialite Jemima Goldsmith in 1995. The marriage ended after nine years and produced two sons.A second marriage in 2015, to journalist and former BBC weather presenter Reham Khan, lasted less than a year.Last Saturday’s prison sentence marked Khan’s third within a week. On Tuesday, he was imprisoned for 10 years for leaking classified documents. The following day, a court case revolved around accusations of converting or retaining state gifts received during his term, including jewelry from the Saudi Crown Prince. Both received 14-year sentences in that case. The court ruled that Bushra Bibi could serve her sentence under house arrest.Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party alleges that he was tried in biased courts.Even before the recent sentences, many raised doubts about the credibility of the upcoming election, as Khan and his party have been marginalized. Although authorities deny conducting a crackdown, several PTI leaders are either detained or have switched sides.Thousands of the party’s supporters were detained following protests – some of which turned violent – when Khan was taken into custody last year.The frontrunner to win is three-time former PM Nawaz Sharif, who was imprisoned for corruption before the 2018 election that Imran Khan won. Many analysts suggest that he is now favored by Pakistan’s influential military establishment.
