Pakistani police have charged former prime minister Imran Khan with attempted murder over the death of a police officer following violent protests in the country last weekend.
Officials said on Tuesday, local time, that Mr Khan, who has been behind bars since 2023, was accused of inciting people to violence.
Police allege he urged his followers to rally on his behalf and demand his release from prison, ultimately leading to the killing of officer Abdul Hameed.
According to police official Murtaza Qamar, the police officer was critically injured in clashes between Mr Khan’s supporters and police in Islamabad and died in hospital.
Over the weekend, the country’s capital was in complete lockdown, with mobile phone service suspended and key roads into Islamabad blocked with shipping containers to try to thwart the rally by tens of thousands of Mr Khan’s supporters.
Police said dozens of officers were also injured when the protesters threw stones at them.
Supporters of Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf have consistently rallied for his release.
(AP Photo: Mohammad Sajjad)
Since his ouster in a no-confidence vote in parliament in 2022, Mr Khan has been Pakistan’s top opposition leader but he has been caught up in more than 150 legal cases.
He has been sentenced in several, including to three years, 10 years, 14 years and seven years to be served concurrently under Pakistani law.
Mr Khan’s convictions were later overturned in appeals but he cannot be freed due to other, pending cases against him.
Authorities went to extreme lengths to try to prevent protests in Islamabad last week. (AP Photo: W.K. Yousafzai)
He has maintained his innocence and has argued that the cases are an attempt to sideline him politically by keeping him out of the public area.
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, has also been demanding his release.
Along with Mr Khan, a top elected official in the country’s north-west, Ali Amin Gundapur, and hundreds of Mr Khan’s supporters were charged on Tuesday with defying a ban on public rallies, attacking security forces and disrupting normal life over the weekend to pressure authorities to free the politician.
AP/ABC