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Imran Khan, the country’s former prime minister and current opposition leader, was arrested in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, on Tuesday: he was in front of a court where he had appeared to testify in a trial involving him on charges of fraud and corruption.
The police had been trying for weeks: the news of the arrest was confirmed by the party of which Khan is leader, the Pakistan Justice Movement (PTI), a nationalist and populist party founded in 1996.
Khan is accused of failing to declare earnings from gifts received from foreign officials during his tenure as prime minister and subsequently reselling others. His party called the arrest a «kidnapping» by the police.
Rangers abducted PTI Chairman Imran Khan, these are the visuals. Pakistan’s brave people must come out and defend their country. pic.twitter.com/hJwG42hsE4
— PTI (@PTIofficial) May 9, 2023
Khan is 70 years old, a former cricket champion and Pakistan’s most famous and popular politician. He had been elected prime minister in 2018 with the PTI, and then disheartened in April 2022 following a major political crisis. The fraud allegations concerning him date back to last October, and the warrant that led to his arrest had been issued last May 1st.
The failed attempts to arrest Khan date back to March 5, when the police showed up at his private residence to arrest him, without finding him, and to March 15, when they tried to arrest him but failed due to protests from his supporters.