Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife appealed today against their sentences to serve 14 and seven years in prison respectively for corruption, one of their lawyers said.
The former cricket star, now opposition leader, denounces his multiple trials as a ploy to prevent him from returning to power in Pakistan.
Prime Minister between 2018 and 2022, Khan claims to be the target of a political coup, as he has gone to open war against the army - which brought him to power, according to experts, although the military institution guarantees never to interfere in politics.
The PTI (Pakistan Movement for Justice), created by the former cricketer and which constitutes the largest party in parliament, was expelled from the government coalition formed after the February 2024 elections.
Stressing that it was a coup to "deprive people of their basic rights and democracy", the former prime minister classifies the current executive as "a puppet government".
The 72-year-old politician, who has been in prison since August 2023, suffered one of his biggest setbacks 10 days ago when he was found guilty of embezzlement.
His third wife, Bushra Bibi, released in late October, was arrested the same night and placed in the same prison as her husband.
"We have filed an appeal and in the coming days the court will process the request and set a date for a new hearing," Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry, one of the couple's lawyers, was quoted as saying by French news agency AFP.
When the sentence was announced, Imran Khan promised he would seek “neither a plea bargain nor a reduction” of the sentence, but Khan’s four previous convictions have all been overturned on appeal or suspended by judges.
The current case involves a charitable fund run by the Al-Qadir Trust, which was set up by Khan and his wife in 2018.
According to the charges, Khan and Bibi obtained land worth 23.3 million euros as a bribe from real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain.
In 2019, Hussain signed an out-of-court settlement with the UK's National Crime Agency for the repatriation of £190 million (€233.3 million) to the Pakistani government in a money laundering case.
At the time, Khan's office approved the money being returned to the tycoon's account, allegedly in exchange for the land.
A UN panel of experts in July denounced his detention as arbitrary and called for his immediate release.
On Sunday, Imran Khan asked his supporters, through a message posted on social media, to mark "a black day" on February 8, the first anniversary of the election of the current government.
Khan admits to having hopes of a return to power, thanks to the popular enthusiasm that his promise of political renewal still arouses.
