The Khan family is alleging a politically motivated set-up by longtime enemies of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan.
This after he and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sentenced to 17 years in prison on Saturday after a court convicted them of unlawfully keeping and selling high-value state gifts, which caps the lengthy court case centered on several corruption allegations. He’s at the center of a series of cases, which have already resulted in past convictions.
The couple was in this instance charged with selling official gifts, including jewelry received from the Saudi government, at prices far below their market value.
Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, has blasted the trial as a “sham” on social media, and Khan’s supporters say the current government has tried to throw anything at him to see what sticks. It also said that a closed door trial is not a fair trial, and that essentially this was a secret court.
And Aleema Khanum, Khan’s sister, has released a statement saying the charges have been fabricated and are ridiculous. “Do you really believe Imran would spend 10 years in prison over an underpriced necklace?” she said. “Seventeen years for this conviction? This is clearly a setup. It shows a judicial system that has collapsed.”
Prosecutors argued that the couple greatly profited from dealing in official state gifts. According to more details:
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman presented a jewelry set made by the Italian luxury brand Bulgari to Khan and his wife in May 2021.
Prosecutors said Khan and his wife had said the value of the gifts was just over $10,000, well short of their real market value of $285,521 (€243,780).
According to Pakistani law, government officials and politicians are allowed to keep gifts received from foreign dignitaries if they are under a certain value. To keep the gifts, they must purchase them at market value and declare the proceeds from any sale. Khan and Bibi were sentenced to 10 years for criminal breach of trust and seven years for corruption.
Khan has in the last year gotten some international support and backing amid the saga, with a United Nations panel of exports having announced last year that his detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office“.
Current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who emerged victorious in the last elections while Khan had languished in jail, was seen more as the “military’s man” in Islamabad, while Khan’s legacy has sought to be erased by those same elite powers.
🇵🇰 NO COURTROOM, NO DEFENSE, NO JUSTICE: IMRAN KHAN AND HIS WIFE SENTENCED TO 17 YEARS IN JAIL
In yet another blow from the Pakistani establishment, Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to a further 17 years in prison each over gifts they legally received while in… pic.twitter.com/y0kgXGCOXT
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) December 20, 2025
DW notes that “Saturday’s sentencing is separate from an earlier case against the couple. In that case, Khan and his wife were sentenced to 14 and seven years, respectively.” He’s already in jail for that prior conviction, and has been incarcerated since 2023.
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