Pakistan jails nearly 200 leaders and members of ex-PM Imran's party for 2023 riots

In a major development, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Thursday sentenced 196 Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders including several leading lights and workers to ten years' imprisonment and acquitted 88 others in three cases of May 9, 2023 vandalism of military installations in Faisalabad.

The accused include leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub, leader of the opposition in the Senate Shibli Faraz and female lawmaker Zartaj Gul.

The ATC sentenced 108 individuals of the total 185 accused, which also included Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) chief MP Sahibzada Hamid Raza, who has been handed 10 years imprisonment.

From L to R: Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz and Zartaj Gul. File photo

The court also acquitted former information minister Fawad Chaudhry, son of PTI Vice President Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Zain Qureshi, and Khayal Kastro. The three cases had been registered for attacking a police van, and civil lines and Ghulam Muhammadabad police stations.

"The prosecution has proved its case against the accused without a shadow of doubt," it said in announcing the sentences.

PTI founder and former PM Imran Khan, who has been in prison since 2023 facing charges of corruption, land fraud and disclosure of official secrets, is being tried separately on similar charges related to the riot.

The government accuses him and other leaders of inciting the May 9, 2023, protests, during which demonstrators attacked military and government buildings, including the army headquarters in Rawalpindi.

He denies wrongdoing and says all the cases are politically motivated as part of a military-backed crackdown to dismantle his party. The military denies it.

Imran Khan's arrest had prompted the countrywide violent protests.

Thursday's ruling does not directly affect the incitement case against him in which prosecution is still presenting witnesses.

The PTI party said it will challenge the verdict. The ruling is the third such mass conviction this month; Khan's party says they have included at least 14 of its parliamentarians.

They will lose their seats in parliament under Pakistani laws, which will shred Khan's opposition party's strength.
Another 77 were acquitted for lack of evidence in the latest verdict, which is linked to an attack on the office of an intelligence agency in eastern city of Faisalabad, the court said.

The party plans new protests starting on August 5, the second anniversary of Khan's jailing, to demand his release.