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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 24 OcTOber 2023

Pakistan’s Imran Khan could face the death sentence in trial over

revealing state secrets

By MUNIR AHMED Qureshi were “indicted in a
Associated Press hurry” with the intention of
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Paki- convicting the popular op-
stani court on Monday position leader quickly.
indicted Imran Khan on Khan is facing more than
charges of revealing of- 150 cases, including charg-
ficial secrets after his 2022 es from contempt of court
ouster from office in anoth- to terrorism and inciting vio-
er dramatic move against lence, and was sentenced
the former prime minister to three years for corrup-
who could now face a pos- tion in early August. Subse-
sible death sentence and quently, an Islamabad High
will likely be unable to run Court suspended that sen-
in parliamentary elections tence in what amounted to
in January. a legal victory for Khan. The
Khan and Shah Mahmood victory was short-lived as
Qureshi, a close aide he was re-arrested later in
and the deputy leader of August in the Cipher case.
Khan’s opposition Pakistan For now, Khan is not eligi-
Tehreek-e-Insaf party, will ble to run for office in the
go on trial this week at a January elections on two
high-security prison in the counts. He would have to
garrison city of Rawalpindi. be cleared of corruption
The charge of revealing charges in the graft case
state secrets carries a sen- Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan listens to a member of the media during a talk and secondly, the Cipher
with reporters regarding the current political situation and the ongoing cases against him at his
tence ranging from life in residence in Lahore, Pakistan, on Aug. 3, 2023. case charges would have
prison to the death pen- Associated Press to be either dropped or he
alty, according to Umair Ni- would also be cleared of
azi, one of Khan’s defense closed doors at the Adiyala pher has not been made being threatened and that them.
lawyers. Niazi, however, Prison, where Khan is being public by either the govern- his ouster was a U.S. con- Panjutha, Khan’s lawyer,
said he was confident Khan held. Khan’s lawyers have ment or Khan’s lawyers but spiracy, allegedly execut- said in a video statement
and Qureshi would be ac- objected to the closed- was apparently diplomatic ed by the military and the to reporters Monday that
quitted as they had done door trial. correspondence between government in Pakistan. his client is being denied a
“nothing wrong.” The case is related to the Pakistani ambassador Washington and Pakistani fair trial.
The trial starts on Friday and Khan’s speech and waving to Washington and the officials have denied the Over the weekend, Khan’s
both Khan and Qureshi of a confidential diplomat- Ministry of Foreign Affairs in claim. main political rival and for-
have denied the charges ic letter at a rally after his Islamabad. Another defense lawyer mer Prime Minister Nawaz
against them. The hear- ouster in a no-confidence At the time, Khan held up for Khan, Naeem Panjutha, Sharif returned to Pakistan,
ings will take place before vote in parliament in 2022. the alleged letter, claim- claimed on Monday that ending his four years of self-
a special court behind The document dubbed Ci- ing it was proof that he was the former premier and imposed exile in London. q

Turkey’s president submits protocol for Sweden’s admission into

NATO to parliament for ratification

By SUZAN FRASER burning protests in Sweden. dorse Sweden’s member- Turkey and Hungary are the wrote on X, the platform
Associated Press All 31 NATO allies must en- ship. only two allies that have formerly known as Twitter.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — yet to ratify it. “Now it remains for Parlia-
Turkish President Recep A brief statement from the ment to deal with the issue.
Tayyip Erdogan has sub- presidential communica- We look forward to becom-
mitted a protocol for Swe- tions directorate said Erdo- ing a member of NATO.”
den’s admission into NATO gan had signed the pro- Sweden and its neighbor
to Turkey’s parliament for tocol on Sweden’s NATO Finland abandoned de-
ratification, his office said accession, which was then cades of military nonalign-
Monday, bringing the Nor- submitted to the Turkish ment and sought protec-
dic country a step closer to Grand National Assembly. tion under NATO’s secu-
membership in the military It was not known when rity umbrella after President
alliance. Sweden’s membership Vladimir Putin ordered
Erdogan had been de- would come to the floor. Russian troops to invade
laying ratification of Swe- Sweden welcomed the Ukraine in February 2022.
den’s membership, ac- move. Finland joined the military
cusing Stockholm of being “Glad to hear that Turkish alliance in April after Tur-
too soft on Kurdish militants President Erdoğan has now key lifted its objections to
and other groups his coun- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan waits for the start of a handed over the ratifica- its membership, saying
try considers to be security round table meeting of the North Atlantic Council during a NATO tion documents to the Turk- Helsinki had taken steps to
threats. Turkey also was an- summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11, 2023. ish Parliament,” Swedish address Ankara’s security
gered by a series of Quran- Associated Press Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson concerns.q