Four PTI leaders sentenced to ten years in prison over 2023 riots, with former Foreign Minister Qureshi released
On Saturday, a Pakistani anti-terrorism court sentenced four senior leaders of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, led by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, to 10 years in prison for their role in the riots that took place on May 9, 2023, while acquitting former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and 11 others due to insufficient evidence.Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Manzar Ali Gill in Lahore delivered the ruling in a case linked to attacks on police vehicles in the city’s Mughalpura area during the nationwide unrest that followed Khan’s arrest in May 2023.Former Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema, former Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rasheed, former Punjab Minister Mian Mehmood Rasheed and former Senator Ijaz Chaudhry were convicted for their involvement in attacking and setting fire to police vehicles.
The four have been detained in Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore since 2023, and have previously been sentenced in other cases linked to the riots.However, the court acquitted Qureshi and 11 PTI workers, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to support the charges against them. Qureshi remains imprisoned in connection with multiple other cases and has been in detention since 2023.PTI rejected the ruling, calling the case fabricated and questioning the integrity of the judicial process.
In a statement issued after the ruling, the party said the ruling raises “deep concerns about due process, judicial fairness and procedural fairness.”“It is clear that many of the individuals involved in the cases related to May 9 were not present in Pakistan at the time of the alleged events,” the agency said.“Such glaring discrepancies cast serious doubt on the credibility of the broader legal process surrounding these cases,” the statement added.The party also said that the defendants were denied guarantees of a “free and fair trial,” alleging that the proceedings took place in an environment characterized by “political pressure, restricted access, prolonged detention, and repeated violations of basic legal rights.”“The result appears less an exercise of justice and more a continuation of a systematic campaign to punish political opponents through the courts,” the party claimed.PTI said it would challenge the ruling through all available legal and constitutional avenues.The case stems from the violent protests that broke out across Pakistan on May 9, 2023, after the arrest of Khan, a former cricketer-turned-politician. The demonstrators targeted dozens of military installations and state-owned buildings, especially in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Khan, 73, has been detained in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since August 2023 and is facing multiple legal cases. The former Prime Minister and his party have consistently maintained that the cases against PTI leaders are politically motivated.
