Pakistan's ex-PM Khan acquitted in state secrets case

A high court in Pakistan has acquitted former Prime Minister Imran Khan from a conviction on charges of leaking state secrets, his lawyer and his party said on Monday, but Khan will remain in prison for now due to a conviction in another case.

Khan, 71, was sentenced to ten years in prison by a lower court on charges of making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan's ambassador in Washington in 2022.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was Khan's foreign minister during his tenure from 2018-2022, was also acquitted of the charges.

"Thank God, the sentence is overturned," a spokesperson for legal affairs from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, Naeem Panjutha, said in a post on the X social media platform.

Despite the acquittal, Khan will remain in prison, having also been convicted in another case relating to his marriage to his third wife, Bushra Khan, contravening Islamic traditions.

➤ Click here to follow our WhatsApp channel for more stories.