Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

Imran Khan, the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), along with Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

They received the 10-year prison term in the cipher case from a special court in Pakistan on Tuesday.

The cipher case revolves around a diplomatic cable that allegedly went missing from Khan’s possession. Khan had consistently claimed, both before and after facing a no-confidence motion last year, that the cipher indicated a conspiracy aimed at removing him from the prime minister’s office.

Ten witnesses were summoned to provide statements against Khan and Qureshi in the case. It brought forth by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in August.

The FIA registered the case against Khan and Qureshi for allegedly violating the nation’s secret laws by disclosing details of official diplomatic communication, according to PTI reports.

In December, Pakistan’s Supreme Court granted post-arrest bails to Khan and Qureshi. However, while Imran Khan was detained in other cases, Qureshi’s release was postponed.

He was reportedly subjected to mistreatment and rearrested in a new case on May 9, as per Dawn’s report.

Imran Khan’s tenure as Prime Minister of Pakistan ended with a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. He was imprisoned on August 5, 2023, after an Islamabad court sentenced him to three years in jail in the Toshakhana case. Khan was incarcerated in the Attock District Jail to serve his sentence.

Subsequently, the Islamabad High Court suspended his sentence in the Toshakhana case. However, he was arrested in connection with the cipher case and remained in judicial custody at the Attock jail.