Four PTI leaders jailed for decade over 2023 riots as ex-foreign minister Qureshi walks free
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Saturday sentenced four senior leaders of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to 10 years in prison for their role in the May 9, 2023, riots, while acquitting former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and 11 others due to insufficient evidence.The verdict was delivered by Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Manzer Ali Gill in Lahore in a case linked to attacks on police vehicles in the Mughalpura area of the city during nationwide unrest that followed Khan’s arrest in May 2023.Former Punjab governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema, former Punjab health minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, former Punjab minister Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed and former senator Ejaz Chaudhry were convicted for their involvement in attacking and setting fire to police vehicles. The four have been held in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2023 and have previously received sentences in other cases connected to the riots.The court, however, 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 custody since 2023.PTI rejected the ruling, describing the case as fabricated and questioning the fairness of the judicial process. In a statement issued after the verdict, the party said the judgment raises “profound concerns about due process, judicial fairness and the integrity of the proceedings”.“Several individuals implicated in May 9-related cases were demonstrably not even present in Pakistan at the time of the alleged incidents,” the PTI said.“Such glaring inconsistencies cast serious doubt on the credibility of the broader legal process surrounding these cases,” the statement added.The party further argued that the accused were denied the guarantees of a “free and fair trial”, alleging that proceedings took place in an environment marked by “political pressure, restricted access, prolonged detentions and repeated violations of fundamental legal rights”.”The outcome 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 verdict through all available legal and constitutional avenues.The case stems from the violent protests that erupted across Pakistan on May 9, 2023, following the arrest of Khan, the former cricketer-turned-politician. Demonstrators targeted dozens of military installations and state-owned buildings, particularly in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Khan, 73, has been held in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail since August 2023 and faces multiple legal cases. The former prime minister and his party have consistently maintained that the cases against PTI leaders are politically motivated.
