A Pakistani court on Saturday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 17 years in prison each in a corruption case involving the under-priced purchase of luxury state gifts, the court and Khan’s lawyers said.

The latest conviction adds to a series of legal troubles for Khan, who has been behind bars since August 2023, and is currently serving a 14-year sentence in a separate land graft case, Reuters reported.

He faces dozens of cases filed since he was ousted from office in 2022, ranging from corruption to anti-terrorism and state secrets charges. Khan has denied wrongdoing in all the cases, which his party says are politically motivated.

“The court announced the sentence without hearing the defence and sentenced 17 years imprisonment to Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi with heavy fines,” Khan’s family lawyer Rana Mudassar Umer told Reuters.

They were handed 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment under Pakistan’s penal code for criminal breach of trust and a further seven years under anti-corruption laws, the special court of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency said in its verdict.

He faces dozens of cases filed since he was ousted from office in 2022, ranging from corruption to anti-terrorism and state secrets charges. Khan has denied wrongdoing in all the cases, which his party says are politically motivated.

“The court announced the sentence without hearing the defence and sentenced 17 years imprisonment to Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi with heavy fines,” Khan’s family lawyer Rana Mudassar Umer told Reuters.

They were handed 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment under Pakistan’s penal code for criminal breach of trust and a further seven years under anti-corruption laws, the special court of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency said in its verdict.

Khan’s jail term from Saturday’s ruling would begin after he has served the 14 years from the land graft case, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said.

The case relates to luxury watches gifted to Khan by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during official visits, which prosecutors said Khan and his wife then purchased from the state at a heavily discounted price in violation of Pakistan’s gift rules.

Tarrar said the purchase resulted in losses of several million rupees for the state.

Zulfi Bukhari, a spokesperson for Khan, said the verdict “ignores basic principles of justice” and turns the process into “a tool for selective prosecution.”

Khan has told his legal team to appeal the decision at the Islamabad High Court, Salman Safdar, another one of his lawyers, told reporters outside the jail where the trials were being held, Geo News reported.

ANOTHER STATE GIFTS CONVICTION

The case is separate from an earlier state gifts prosecution linked to Khan’s August 2023 arrest. Earlier sentences of 14 years for Khan and seven years for Bushra Bibi were later suspended on appeal. The couple denies wrongdoing.

The cases are commonly known in Pakistan as the Toshakhana cases, referring to the state repository where gifts received by public officials are deposited.

Following the verdict, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced plans for protests across Punjab on Sunday.

Khan’s party also says routine family and legal visits have been blocked in recent weeks despite court orders. Authorities deny any mistreatment and say he is receiving all facilities available to prisoners.

Khan, a former cricket star turned politician, remains one of Pakistan’s most polarising figures, with his legal battles unfolding as his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party remains sidelined from power.

Pakistan’s most powerful military chief in decades faces the toughest test of his newly amassed powers as Washington pushes Islamabad to contribute troops to the Gaza stabilisation force, a move analysts say could spark domestic backlash.

Field Marshal Asim Munir is expected to fly to Washington to meet President Donald Trump in the coming weeks for a third meeting in six months that will likely focus on the Gaza force, two sources told Reuters, one of them a key player in the general’s economic diplomacy.

Trump’s 20-point Gaza plan calls for a force from Muslim nations to oversee a transition period for reconstruction and economic recovery in the war-torn Palestinian territory, decimated by over two years of Israeli military bombardment.

Many countries are wary of the mission to demilitarise Gaza’s Islamist militant group Hamas, which could drag them into the conflict and enrage their pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli populations.

But Munir has built a close relationship with the mercurial Trump to repair years of mistrust between Washington and Islamabad. In June, he was rewarded with a White House lunch – the first time a U.S. president hosted Pakistan’s army chief alone, without civilian officials.

“Not contributing (to the Gaza stabilisation force) could annoy Trump, which is no small matter for a Pakistani state that appears quite keen to remain in his good graces – in great part to secure U.S. investment and security aid,” said Michael Kugelman, Senior Fellow, South Asia at Washington-based Atlantic Council.

Pakistan, the world’s only Muslim country with nuclear weapons, has a battle-hardened military having gone to war with arch-rival India three times and a brief conflict this summer.

It has also tackled insurgencies in its far-flung regions and is currently embroiled in a bruising war with Islamist militants who it says are operating from Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s military strength means “there is a greater pressure on Munir to deliver his capacity,” said author and defence analyst Ayesha Siddiqa.

Pakistan’s military, foreign office and information ministry did not respond to questions from Reuters. The White House also did not respond to a request for a comment.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said last month that Islamabad could consider contributing troops for peacekeeping but disarming Hamas “is not our job.”

Munir was earlier this month anointed chief of the defence forces to head the air force and navy as well, with a job extension until 2030.

He will retain his field marshal title forever, as well as enjoy lifetime immunity from any criminal prosecution under the constitutional amendments that Pakistan’s civilian government pushed through parliament late last month.

“Few people in Pakistan enjoy the luxury of being able to take risks more than Munir. He has unbridled power, now constitutionally protected,” Kugelman added.

“Ultimately, it will be Munir’s rules, and his rules only.”

Over the past few weeks, Munir has met military and civilian leaders from countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Qatar, according to the military’s statements, which Siddiqa said appeared to be consultations on the Gaza force.

But the big concern at home is that the involvement of Pakistan troops in Gaza under a U.S.-backed plan could re-ignite protests from Pakistan’s Islamist parties that are deeply opposed to the U.S. and Israel.

The Islamists have street power to mobilise thousands.

A powerful and violent anti-Israel Islamist party that fights for upholding Pakistan’s ultra-strict blasphemy laws was banned in October.

Authorities arrested its leaders and over 1,500 supporters and seized its assets and bank accounts in an ongoing crackdown, officials said.

While Islamabad has outlawed the group, its ideology is still alive.

The party of former jailed premier, Imran Khan, whose supporters won the most seats in the 2024 national elections and has wide public support, also has an axe to grind against Munir.

Abdul Basit, Senior Associate Fellow, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said if things escalated once the Gaza force was on the ground, it would cause problems quickly.

“People will say ‘Asim Munir is doing Israel’s bidding’ – it will be foolhardy of anyone not to see it coming.”

Two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter were killed in Syria on Saturday by a suspected Daesh attacker who targeted a convoy of American and Syrian forces before being shot dead, the U.S. military said.

The attack was barely a month after Syria announced it had signed a political cooperation agreement with the U.S.-led coalition against Daesh, which coincided with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House, Reuters reported.

The attacker was a member of the Syrian security forces, three local officials told Reuters. A Syrian Interior Ministry spokesperson told a state-run television channel that the man did not have a leadership role in the security forces.

“On December 10, an evaluation was issued indicating that this attacker might hold extremist ideas, and a decision regarding him was due to be issued tomorrow, on Sunday,” the spokesperson, Noureddine el-Baba, told Syrian television channel Al-Ikhbariya.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, U.S. President Donald Trump vowed “very serious retaliation,” mourning the loss of “three great patriots”. He described the incident in remarks to reporters as a “terrible” attack.

CENTRAL COMMAND SAYS THE ATTACKER WAS KILLED

Three U.S. soldiers were also wounded in the attack, the U.S. military’s Central Command said.

In a statement, Central Command said the attack by a lone gunman occurred “as the soldiers were conducting a key leader engagement” in the central Syrian town of Palmyra. “Partner forces” killed the attacker, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote in a social media post.

A senior U.S. official said initial assessments indicated that Daesh probably carried out the attack, although the militant group did not immediately claim responsibility.

It took place in an area not controlled by the Syrian government, the official said.

Baba said Syria had warned about the possibility of an Daesh attack in that region but that “coalition forces did not take the Syrian warnings… into account.”

He said Syria would determine whether the attacker was linked to Daesh or merely subscribed to the group’s ideology.

The soldiers’ names will be withheld until 24 hours after the next-of-kin notification, the U.S. military said.

US ENVOY CONDEMNS THE ATTACK

Syrian state news agency SANA quoted a security source as saying two Syrian service personnel were injured, without providing further details. The source told SANA that American helicopters evacuated the injured to a U.S. base in Syria’s Al-Tanf region near the Iraqi border.

Tom Barrack, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, condemned the attack.

“We mourn the loss of three brave U.S. service members and civilian personnel and wish a speedy recovery to the Syrian troops wounded in the attack,” Barrack said in a statement. “We remain committed to defeating terrorism with our Syrian partners.”

The U.S.-led coalition has carried out air strikes and ground operations in Syria targeting Islamic State suspects in recent months, often with the involvement of Syria’s security forces. Syria last month also carried out a nationwide campaign arresting more than 70 people accused of links to the group.

The United States has troops stationed in northeastern Syria as part of a decade-long effort to help a Kurdish-led force there.