What Imran Khan's sentencing means for Pakistan

In what many would describe as a predetermined verdict, a special court has sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his erstwhile foreign minister to a decade behind bars for violating the Official Secrets Act. The court decision announced just a week before general elections is a reminder of the trial and convictions of previous prime ministers.
Imran Khan has met the same fate as many of his predecessors, following the country’s shameful political tradition of removing political leaders from the scene through dubious trials. He was being tried along with Shah Mahmood Qureshi inside prison in the cipher case.