LAHORE: PTI Chairman Imran Khan, shortly after an Islamabad trial court declared him guilty of “corrupt practices” in the Toshakhana case and sentenced him to three years in prison, was arrested by Punjab police on Saturday afternoon from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.

Lahore Police Chief Bilal Siddique Kamiana confirmed the arrest and told Reuters the former prime minister was being transferred to the capital.

The court sentenced Imran who was absent from court to three years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs100,000 on him while hearing the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) criminal complaint against the PTI chief for concealing details of Toshakhana gifts. His lawyers were also not present.

The judge said that Imran also provided an “incorrect declaration” in the Form-B the statement of assets and liabilities submitted to the ECP for the year 2020-2021.

“He has been found guilty of corrupt practices by hiding the benefits he accured from the national exchequer wilfully and intentionally. He cheated while providing information of gifts he obtained from Toshakhana which later proved to be false and inaccurate.

“His dishonesty has been established beyond doubt,” the court order added.

It further said that the PTI chief was convicted under Section 174 (Offence of corrupt practices) of the Election Act and sentenced to three years in prison.

ADSJ Dilawar also directed that a copy of the order, along with the arrest warrant, should be sent to the Islamabad police chief for execution.

The arrest warrant, which has been seen by Dawn.com, authorised the Islamabad police chief to arrest Imran and send him to Central Prison Adiala, Rawalpindi, for “serving out his sentences”.

After today’s verdict, Imran technically stands disqualified from holding any public office for five years under Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution.

The law states: “A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Parliament if he has been, on conviction for any offence involving moral turpitude, sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release.”

He, however, has the right to appeal the verdict.

During the hearing today which commenced at 8:30am the judge repeatedly expressed displeasure over the absence of Imran’s lawyers. He, however, gave multiple chances to the defence counsel to appear in court.

Finally, at 12:30pm, ASDJ Dilawar announced the verdict. Roughly 29 minutes later, reports of Imran’s arrest surfaced.

Unlike previous instances, where Zaman Park was usually guarded by party supporters, Imran was taken into custody today without any major resistance. The PTI also confirmed this in a tweet, saying that the party chief didn’t resist the arrest.

It claimed that the Lahore police arrived at Imran’s residence to “kidnap” him even before the written verdict of the trial court was released. Talking about the case, it alleged that “every process from the beginning of the case to the trial and [Imran’s] abduction is illegal”.

In another tweet, the PTI alleged that the Punjab police “broke into” Zaman Park and “beat up” Imran’s security guards and house staff. “Even though Khan sahib expressed his willingness to go with the police, they still dragged him and covered his face with a cloth,” the party added.

Separately, television footage showed a large contingent of police taking him to jail.

The PTI chairman’s arrest today comes approximately three months after his first arrest on May 9 when he was detained in Islamabad from the high court’s premises in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

Imran’s arrest that day had resulted in widespread violence and saw important military installations come under attack, on the basis of which the state had launched a severe crackdown against his party.

While Imran was released the next day, thousands of PTI workers and almost the entire top-tier leadership was rounded up.

What followed was a large number of party leaders holding press conferences, condemning the May 9 riots — some also called out Imran and his politics and disassociating themselves with the PTI. The party’s dismantlement has continued since then, barring some senior PTI leaders, most of whom are still behind bars.

While the mass exodus as well as a near-complete blackout of Imran on local media has left the PTI’s future uncertain in the upcoming polls, it also gave birth to a new home for most PTI deserters, Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), hosted by Jahangir Khan Tareen.

In a pre-recorded message shared on his Twitter a few hours after arrest, Imran said: “By the time this message reaches you, I will be in jail.”

“In the wake of my arrest,” the PTI chief said, “I want you to continue peaceful protests and not to sit quietly inside your houses.”

“My movement is not for myself, but for you, for the future of your children,” he stressed, recalling that Pakistan too was found on the concept of freedom.

“If you will not stand up for your rights, you will live a life that is of slaves and slaves have no life. Slaves are similar to how ants are — on the ground — they do not fly high.

“This is a battle for your rights and freedom … you have to continue peaceful protests until you get your right, which is seeing a government elected by you and not a qabza mafia,” Imran added.

Following the verdict, Imran’s lawyer Barrister Gohar Khan expressed his disappointment and deemed it “a murder of justice”.

“I was very disappointed and disheartened,” he said. “Justice was murdered.

“We weren’t even given a chance. We weren’t even allowed to cross [question], to say anything in defence or conduct our arguments. I haven’t seen this kind of injustice before.”

In a video message, PTI Vice Chariman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the public had found today’s verdict “against the formalities of justice”.

“Imran Khan’s fundamental right of fair trial was not provided,” he claimed and called on party supporters to continue efforts for the PTI chief’s release.

“We have to make both political and legal efforts, and move forward in a peaceful manner,” Qureshi said, urging supporter against taking the law in their hands.

He added that he had talked to senior party members and decided that a core committee meeting of the PTI had been called today to chalk out a plan for the future.

PTI leader Asad Umar, who left his position as PTI genera secretary following May 9 riots but is still part of the party, said: “Today’s decision does not even meet the basic principle of law that the serving of justice should be seen.

“This decision will not stand in a higher court. And meaningful decisions about politicians are made in the hearts of the people, not in the courts,” he added.

PTI leader Asad Qaiser, who unlike many of his peers did not leave the PTI in the aftermath of the May 9 violence, termed the judgement a “biased decision by a biased judge that has no legal standing”.

He said the “pre-written judgment was delivered in haste without following any legal procedure”. He further said that the PTI and the Pakistani people “reject this biased decision” and vowed to approach every possible forum against it.

Former parliamentary secretary of law and ex-PTI leader Barrister Maleeka Bokhari said that “on the orders of [PML-N leader] Maryam Nawaz for a level playing field to balance the scales justice was killed today”.

Addressing a press conference on the matter in Islamabad, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said the PTI chief refused to respond to the charges against him and resisted at various points whenever there were attempts to retrieve him for interrogation.

“Let me make it clear that the entire investigation in the case took place over 12 to 13 months,” she said, adding that Imran was arrested after fulfilling all stages of legal obligations and requirements.

“There was no political motive of the government involved behind his arrest,” the minister asserted, clarifying that the events also did not have anything to do with the upcoming general elections.

Aurangzeb further said that out of 40 hearing in the case Imran appeared in only three, adding that he attempted to use every legal platform to escape from the proceedings.

She also rebuffed any comparison between the arrests of Imran Khan PML-N and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif.

The case, filed by ruling party lawmakers, is based on a criminal complaint filed by the ECP.

The case alleges that Imran had “deliberately concealed” details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana — a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept — during his time as the prime minister and proceeds from their reported sales.

According to Toshakhana rules, gifts/presents and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules apply shall be reported to the Cabinet Division.

Imran has faced a number of legal issues over his retention of gifts. The issue also led to his disqualification by the ECP.

On Oct 21, 2022, the ECP concluded that the former premier had indeed made “false statements and incorrect declarations” regarding the gifts.

The watchdog’s order had said Imran stood disqualified under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution.

Subsequently, the ECP had approached the Islamabad sessions court with a copy of the complaint, seeking proceedings against Imran under criminal law for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts he received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as the prime minister.

On May 10, Imran was indicted in the case. However, on July 4, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had stayed the proceeding and directed ADSJ Dilawar to re-examine the matter in seven days, keeping in view eight legal questions he framed to decide the maintainability of the Toshakhana reference.

The questions had included whether the complaint was filed on behalf of the ECP by a duly authorised person, whether the ECP’s decision of Oct 21, 2022, was a valid authorisation to any officer of ECP to file a complaint, and whether the question of authorisation was a question of fact and evidence and could be ratified subsequently during the course of proceedings.

Finally, on July 9, ADSJ Dilawar while ruling that the reference was maintainable, revi­ved the stalled proceedings and summoned the witne­sses for testimony.

A session court had last month declared that the ECP reference against the PTI chief was maintainable. The decision was subsequently challenged in the IHC.

Earlier this week, Judge Dilawar had ruled that Imran’s legal team failed to prove the relevance of his witnesses. He had warned the defence counsel to conclude the arguments, or else the court would reserve an order.