Pakistan’s Imran Khan is charged with attempted murder over policeman’s death in weekend protests

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police have charged the country’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan with attempted murder over the death of a policeman during violent protests last weekend by his supporters, officials said Tuesday.

Khan, who has been behind bars since 2023, is accused of inciting people to violence, they said.

Police argue that Khan — who had urged his followers to rally on his behalf and demand his release from prison — had allegedly incited his supporters, leading to the killing of officer Abdul Hameed. According to police official Murtaza Qamar, Hameed was critically injured in clashes between Khan’s supporters and police in Islamabad and died at a hospital.

Over the weekend, the country’s capital was in complete lockdown, with cellphone service suspended and key roads into Islamabad blocked with shipping containers to try to thwart the rally by tens of thousands of Khan’s supporters. Police said dozens of officers were also injured when the protesters threw stones at them.

Registering an attempted murder charge against Khan — who since his ouster in a no-confidence vote in parliament in 2022 has been Pakistan’s top opposition leader — indicates the authorities are seeking to entangle him in a multitude of legal cases, likely making it even more difficult for his legal team to fight for his release.

Khan has so far been embroiled in over 150 cases and has been sentenced in several, including to three years, 10 years, 14 years and seven years to be served concurrently under Pakistani law. Khan’s convictions were later overturned in appeals but he cannot be freed due to other, pending cases against him.

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 Khan, a top elected official in the northwest, Ali Amin Gundapur, and hundreds of Khan’s supporters were charged Tuesday with defying a ban on public rallies, attacking security forces and disrupting normal life over the weekend to pressure authorities to free Khan.