ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday sentenced over a dozen members of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s party to as much as 10 years in prison for their involvement in anti-government riots in May 2023.
The riots erupted after Khan was briefly arrested by in Islamabad on corruption charges on May 9, 2023, with his supporters attacking government buildings and military installations.
Thousands of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party members and supporters were later detained and hundreds were charged under anti-terrorism laws in a sweeping crackdown, with some cases referred to military courts.
On Monday, the ATC, which was hearing two 2023 riots cases at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat prison, sentenced PTI’s Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mahmood-ur-Rashid and Umar Sarfaraz Cheema among 11 individuals to 10 years in prison. Two other PTI members, Aliya Hamza Malik and Sanam Javed, were sentenced to five years in prison.
“This verdict stands as a flagrant travesty of justice, reducing the very notion of fairness to a hollow farce,” Zulfikar Bukhari, a PTI spokesman, said in a statement after Monday’s ruling.
