In a yet again surprising turn of events, on Saturday the trial court hearing the Toshakhana case against former premier Imran Khan declared him guilty and sentenced him to three years in jail, ordering for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief to be immediately arrested.

Shortly after the decision, the party’s Punjab chapter took to Twitter to state that the former premier is being shifted to Kot Lakhpat Jail.

عمران خان کو کوٹ لکھپٹ جیل منتقل کیا جا رہا ہے
— PTI Punjab (@PTIPunjabPK) August 5, 2023

The verdict, issued by Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar, comes amid the PTI chief’s contentions on both the maintainability of the case and repeated transfer requests based on percieved biasness of the judge.

A day after the Islamabad High Court directed the PTI chief’s legal team to take up the matter of maintainability with the trial court again, Justice Dilawar had sought arguments on maintainability. He had also warned the PTI chief’s legal team to present final arguments otherwise the decision would be announced today (Saturday).

When the trial court took up the matter today at 8am the PTI chief’s senior legal representatives were absent. The court took three recesses before announcing the verdict at around noon.

Neither the defendant nor his senior counsels appeared. The PTI chief’s junior counsel informed the court that the latter had an appearance before another court.

In his ruling, Justice Dilawar said that the charges against Imran had been proven.

Issuing the verdict, the trial court declared the PTI chief guilty of corrupt practices and of making a false declaration before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The court handed the former premier a three-year prison term and imposed a fine Rs100,000.

The Islamabad inspector-general of police (IGP) was instructed to ensure immediate implementation of arrest warrants.

The Toshakhana case was filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the PTI chief for “deliberately concealing” the gifts he received during his term as the prime minister and retained them from the Toshakhana.

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