71-year-old Imran Khan, wife get 14 years jail in ‘graft’ case

News Network
January 31, 2024

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Islamabad, 31: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and his wife were sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in jail after being found guilty of graft in a case involving gifts he received while premier.

The verdict, a week before national elections, comes a day after Khan was given a prison sentence of 10 years in a case related to leaking state secrets. 

"Another sad day in our judicial system history, which is being dismantled," a spokesperson for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party told media. 

It was not immediately clear if Khan's sentences were to run consecutively or concurrently following a trial held inside the jail where he has been detained for much of the time since his arrest in August.

But Khan's lawyer Salman Safdar confirmed to AFP he had been sentenced alongside his wife, Bushra Bibi, who had been on remand throughout the trial.

"Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi have been sentenced. Bushra Bibi has not been arrested as yet," Safdar said.

The pair married in 2018, months before Khan was elected prime minister.

Bibi, a faith healer who met Khan when he approached her for spiritual guidance, is rarely seen in public.

About 127 million Pakistanis are eligible to vote on election day next Thursday, with Khan and PTI at the centre of debate despite being squeezed out of the limelight.

The ballot has already been marred by allegations of rigging, with Khan barred from running over a previous graft conviction and his party subject to a massive crackdown.

Since being ousted in 2022, Khan has been buried by court cases he claims have been triggered to prevent his return to office after a campaign of defiance against Pakistan's military kingmakers.

Khan had accused the powerful military -- with whom he ruled in partnership for much of his tenure -- of orchestrating his ouster in a US-backed conspiracy.

When Khan was first arrested in May last year, riots broke out across the country.

But his street power was killed by a military crackdown that saw thousands of supporters detained -- 100 of whom are facing closed-door military trials -- and dozens of senior leaders forced underground. 

"You have to take revenge for every injustice with your vote on February 8," Khan said in a statement posted on his X profile reacting to his 10-year sentence on Tuesday.

"Tell them that we are not sheep that can be driven with a stick."

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News Network
November 11,2024

Udupi, Nov 11: A traveller reportedly lost ₹4.1 lakh after attempting to book a cab online in Udupi. 

At around 1:30 PM on November 7, the man from West Bengal searched for car rentals on Google and selected a website named "Shakti Car Rentals." Shortly after, he was contacted by someone claiming to be "Rohit Sharma," who directed him to pay a registration fee of ₹150 on the site.

After unsuccessful payment attempts via both his Canara Bank debit card and SBI credit card (without receiving an OTP), "Rohit Sharma" instructed him to pay the driver directly. But at 1:47 PM, he received messages showing deductions of ₹3.3 lakh from his SBI credit card and ₹80,056 from his Canara Bank debit card, totaling ₹4.1 lakh.

The complainant alleges fraud through a deceptive link disguised as a booking token fee. A case has been registered at Udupi Town Police Station.

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News Network
November 21,2024

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Hamas says the Israeli regime’s sole objective lies in “erasing” the entirety of the Palestinian population from across the Palestinian territories.

Khalil al-Hayya, a ranking official with the Gaza Strip-based Palestinian resistance movement, made the remarks to the Palestinian al-Aqsa TV on Wednesday.

“The occupation targets everyone—it strikes hospitals, civil defense, women, children, and the elderly,” he said, adding that the regime sought to “empty Gaza of its residents, and displace the Palestinian people to fulfill its dreams of building a Zionist Jewish state across all of Palestine.”

The remarks came amid the regime’s October 2023-present war of genocide on the coastal sliver that has so far claimed the lives of nearly 44,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

“This unprecedented aggression in modern times evokes scenes from the dark ages of human history, having crossed all red lines and exceeded every expectation of brutality in the modern era,” the Palestinian official lamented.

He also regretted that the regime had added “systematic and dangerous starvation to its aggression, falsely claiming before the world that it allows 250 [aid] trucks into Gaza daily. In reality, the number of trucks is far fewer.”

Hayya, meanwhile, regretted that “scenes of children torn apart, women screaming over their children, and heart-wrenching destruction have failed to stir enough humanity to stop these crimes.”

He decried the United States for vetoing the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions that are aimed at bringing about a potential ceasefire in the war, saying this indicated Washington’s “partnership in the aggression” and a simultaneous siege that the Israeli regime has been enforcing on Gaza.

Addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the official asserted that, despite what the Israeli official is after, Hamas would not hand over the regime’s captives “without [the regime’s] stopping the war.”

He called Netanyahu “the main obstacle” in the way of cessation of the aggression, saying the Israeli premier “blocks any progress for political reasons,” and citing his preventing conclusion of a ceasefire agreement in July.

Hayya also warned that the regime sought to expand the war beyond Gaza, but asserted that its goals are “impossible and will never happen.”

“Today, the enemy exposes its true intentions of extermination and displacement, but it will fail,” he stressed.

“The Palestinian people are resilient and will not surrender, as they believe in their humanitarian and political cause. The enemy and its allies will not succeed in achieving their goals. This steadfast people will endure, and the occupation will not prevail against them.”

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News Network
November 15,2024

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Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has killed or captured 69 terrorists linked to the Israeli spy agency Mossad during a major counterterrorism drill in the country's southeast, its spokesman says.  

General Ahmad Shafaei, the spokesman for the “Martyrs of Security” drill, said Friday that a total of 23 terrorists have been killed and another 46 arrested in various clean-up operations ever since the IRGC Ground Force launched it in the Sistan and Baluchestan province on November 1.

Seven terrorists have also turned themselves in during the period.

“The undeniable fact about terrorists is that they rely on arrogant powers, particularly the intelligence service of the wicked and vicious Zionist regime," Shafaei said.

“Unfortunately, weapons and munitions at terrorists’ disposal are among the most sophisticated ones in the world. This accounts for their heavy dependence.” 

The official stated that several members of the disbanded terror teams were non-Iranian nationals, who had been hired by foreign intelligence agencies to carry out acts of sabotage and terror inside Iran.

In a most recent operation, six terrorists were arrested and four others were eliminated, three of whom were non-Iranians, he added. 

On October 26, ten members of Iran's law enforcement forces were killed in a terrorist attack in the Gohar Kuh district of Taftan in the Sistan and Baluchestan province.

The so-called Jaish al-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assault, which was one of the deadliest in the province in recent months.

The group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in Iran, primarily in Sistan and Baluchestan.

Its tactics include the abduction of border guards as well as targeting civilians and police stations within the province to incite chaos and disorder.

In January, Iran launched a military operation during which the headquarters of the Pakistan-based terrorist group was targeted in missile strikes, destroying its infrastructure.

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