Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan sentenced to 10 years jail

ISLAMABAD

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in jail, state media and a spokesman for his party said, in a controversial case related to a leaked document.

The sentence, handed down following a trial held inside the jail where Khan has been detained for much of the time since his arrest in August, comes as the country heads to the polls on Feb. 8.

"Former prime minister Imran Khan and PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) vice-president (Shah Mahmood) Qureshi have been sentenced to 10 years each inside prison in the cypher case," a spokesman for the party told AFP.

The case centres around how the pair handled a so-called "cypher" sent by Pakistan's ambassador to the United States that alleged Washington was complicit in a plot to turf Khan from office in 2022.

Millions of people will vote in polls in less than two weeks, in a campaign marred by allegations of pre-vote rigging and Khan's party heavily suppressed.