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Pakistan’s Imran Khan Arrested After Court Sentences Ex-Pm to 3 Years Jail

FILE PHOTO: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo
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Pakistan’s Imran Khan Arrested After Court Sentences Ex-Pm to 3 Years Jail

FILE PHOTO: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo

Police arrested Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan in the eastern city of Lahore on Saturday after a court sentenced the opposition leader to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts.

Legal experts say the guilty verdict reached by a district court could end Khan's chances of contesting national elections that have to be held before early November.

"Police have arrested Imran Khan from his residence," Khan's lawyer Intezar Panjotha told Reuters. "We are filing a petition against the decision in high court.

Lahore's Police Chief Bilal Siddique Kamiana confirmed the arrest and told Reuters the politician was being transferred to the capital, Islamabad.

Khan's political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said in a statement they had already filed another appeal to the Supreme Court earlier on Saturday.

The conviction came just a day after Pakistan's high court had temporarily halted the district court trial. It was not immediately clear why the trial had proceeded despite the high court decision.

Khan's arrest and detention for several days in May over a separate case had sparked intense political turmoil and deadly clashes had erupted between Khan supporters and police.

The latest arrest comes in the lead up to an election expected to take place in the next three months. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has proposed that parliament be dissolved on Aug. 9, three days before the end of its term, according to political, paving the way for a general election by November.

Pakistani media and a Reuters witness described police surrounding Khan's residence in Lahore on Saturday after verdict was released.

The sentence relates to an inquiry conducted by the election commission, which found Khan guilty of unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

Khan has denied any wrongdoing.

The 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician was accused of misusing his premiership to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad and worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees ($635,000).

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World

Iranian Police Officer Killed in Attack in Restive Southeast

A member of IRGC at a military training center for ordinary citizens at Tajrish Square in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A member of IRGC at a military training center for ordinary citizens at Tajrish Square in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iranian Police Officer Killed in Attack in Restive Southeast

A member of IRGC at a military training center for ordinary citizens at Tajrish Square in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A member of IRGC at a military training center for ordinary citizens at Tajrish Square in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iranian police said on Tuesday that one of their officers was killed in an attack by unidentified assailants in the country's restive southeast, state media reported.

"Following an armed attack by unidentified individuals on a Criminal Investigation Police officer in Saravan county (Sistan-Baluchistan province), Third Lieutenant Hojat Vafakardeh attained the honor of martyrdom," state television quoted a police statement as saying.

"Efforts by police and security forces to identify and arrest those responsible for this cowardly attack are ongoing," the statement added.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack.

Sistan-Baluchistan province, one of Iran's poorest, has long been the scene of clashes involving security forces and armed groups, including separatist factions.

The province bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan is home to a large Baluch population.

On Monday, the Mehr news agency reported that "terrorist groups carried out a cowardly attack on a vehicle carrying several engineers and contractors" in the same area.

Also on Monday, the local headquarters of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said its forces had ambushed "a terrorist team... before carrying out a terrorist operation", killing one of its members and arresting several others.

On Thursday, the intelligence ministry said its forces had dismantled "four operational cells of a terrorist-takfiri group", arresting 16 people. Three others were detained for allegedly sending information to "US-Zionist centers", the ministry said, without providing further details.

In mid-October, two members of Iran's security forces were killed in separate attacks by gunmen in the region.

World

Iran-US Deal Still Out of Reach despite Heightened Diplomatic Efforts

A member of IRGC at a military training center for ordinary citizens at Tajrish Square in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
A member of IRGC at a military training center for ordinary citizens at Tajrish Square in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
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Iran-US Deal Still Out of Reach despite Heightened Diplomatic Efforts

A member of IRGC at a military training center for ordinary citizens at Tajrish Square in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
A member of IRGC at a military training center for ordinary citizens at Tajrish Square in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

Iran and the ‌United States are far from reaching a deal to end the war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday, despite heightened diplomatic efforts to prevent a potential return to active conflict after the US midterm elections.

The US carried out "defensive" strikes on Iran's Qeshm island overnight, with a US official saying the strikes targeted surface-to-air missiles used against US assets. Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guards said they downed a US MQ-9 drone overnight in the skies over the east of the Strait of Hormuz.

"Mediators are working hard to narrow gaps between Tehran and Washington," the senior Iranian official said, after Qatari mediators travelled to Tehran on Monday night for talks on a version of the draft US-Iran deal that has been under negotiation for the past eight ‌days.

“Tehran's conditions must ‌be met if the US wants Hormuz reopened,” the Iranian official ‌cautioned, ⁠adding that nuclear talks ⁠could only start afterwards and that Tehran would not accept Washington's "excessive demands".

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Tuesday that the ball was in the US' court after Tehran gave a "strong and rational response" to Washington.

The senior Iranian told Reuters Tehran would respond forcefully, in the region and beyond, to US strikes.

"The enemy seeks to force the Iranian nation into submission through threats and military action, but they are sorely mistaken, Iran will not submit," Qalibaf ⁠also said on Tuesday, adding that Tehran's response to any miscalculation ‌by the US would be unpredictable and disregard geographical ‌constraints.

US President Donald Trump raised doubt on Monday about whether he would follow through on a threatened ‌resumption of military strikes against Iran after the midterm elections on Tuesday, adding that he ‌believed Tehran wanted to make a deal as soon as possible.

REGIONAL DIALOGUE CONTINUES

In parallel to US-Iran exchange of messages via intermediaries, diplomatic efforts are ongoing at the regional level to prevent further deflagration.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Tuesday that ‌Tehran aims to reach new regional security arrangements for countries in the region without foreign military involvement.

Last week, top officials from Saudi ⁠Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan met ⁠Iranian officials in Tehran, the first high-level contact between Iran and the three nations since August. The US-Israeli war on Iran started in late February and since then, fighting has spread to Yemen and other areas.

Impoverished Yemen has been mired in a civil war since the Houthis pushed the internationally recognized government out of the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.

World

Bangladesh Garment Workers Stage Fourth Day of Wage Protests

Police manage crowds as garment workers block a road during a protest calling for higher minimum wages in Dhaka on Sunday. Shamim-US-SALEHIN / AFP
Police manage crowds as garment workers block a road during a protest calling for higher minimum wages in Dhaka on Sunday. Shamim-US-SALEHIN / AFP
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Bangladesh Garment Workers Stage Fourth Day of Wage Protests

Police manage crowds as garment workers block a road during a protest calling for higher minimum wages in Dhaka on Sunday. Shamim-US-SALEHIN / AFP
Police manage crowds as garment workers block a road during a protest calling for higher minimum wages in Dhaka on Sunday. Shamim-US-SALEHIN / AFP

Garment workers in Bangladesh staged a fourth day of wage protests on Tuesday, with police firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators as unrest disrupted factory operations and transport links in the country's vital export sector.

The unrest, which began on Saturday, has intensified despite the government's move to form a six-member wage board to review pay in Bangladesh's garment sector, the world's second-largest apparel exporter after China, Reuters said.

It comes at a critical time for ‌manufacturers entering the peak ‌production season for spring and summer export orders. ‌The industry ⁠employs about 4 ⁠million workers, supplies global brands such as H&M, Zara and Gap, and accounts for more than 80% of the country's export earnings.

Clashes were reported across industrial belts around Dhaka, including Ashulia, Gazipur and the capital's Mirpur area, as workers staged fresh demonstrations and attempted to block major highways. Dozens of people, including several police officers, were injured in the clashes.

In Ashulia, police fired ⁠tear gas and sound grenades after protesters threw bricks ‌and stones at law enforcement personnel, said ‌Mohammad Mominul Islam Bhuiyan, superintendent of Ashulia Industrial Police. Similar crowd-control measures were used ‌in Dhaka's Mirpur area, police said.

Additional security forces were deployed to ‌contain the unrest, police said. Several factories in Gazipur and Ashulia again suspended operations or declared holidays after nearly 700 factories shut a day earlier.

WORKERS DEMAND HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE AS LIVING COSTS RISE

Workers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of ‌30,000 taka ($245), up from the current 12,500 taka, arguing that rising living costs and persistent inflation have eroded ⁠their purchasing power. ⁠Several factories were also vandalized during the unrest.

Industry officials warn prolonged closures could delay shipments and damage Bangladesh's reputation as a reliable sourcing hub as it competes with rivals such as Vietnam and India for global apparel orders.

The wage dispute comes amid mounting pressure on workers from rising prices. The government formed the wage board on November 1 to review pay in the garment sector, but the move has yet to calm the protests.

Factory owners said they are contending with rising operating costs, uncertainty in energy markets linked to conflict in the Middle East, and softer demand in key export markets.

They warn that prolonged unrest could disrupt production schedules and jeopardize export orders, while workers continue to press for higher wages and better working conditions.