The government of Pakistan announced on Sunday night that former prime minister Imran Khan, who led the country from 2018 until his ouster in a no-confidence vote in April 2022, would be charged with violating the country’s anti-terrorism law two days after giving an incendiary speech in which he threatened Pakistani police officers and a female judge.

The former prime minister has not yet responded to the charges in person but his lawyers appeared before the Islamabad High Court on Monday requesting pre-arrest bail for the former prime minister and leader of the political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

During his speech, Khan condemned the arrest of Shahbaz Gill by Islamabad police. Gill was a personal aide to Khan who was arrested for sedition after he gave a speech that was widely perceived as attempting to incite an insurrection among the country’s armed forces. Khan alleged that Gill had been tortured in police custody, citing his hospitalization for breathing problems shortly after his arrest. The former prime minister also repeated previous claims that his downfall from power had been engineered by the United States and carried out by leaders from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) opposition parties at Washington’s request.

The police force swiftly condemned Khan’s comments, insisting that anyone “threatening the police or making false accusations will be dealt with according to the law.” The country’s media regulatory agency also described his comments as “baseless” and banned Pakistani satellite providers from broadcasting Khan’s future speeches without a time delay.

The police report against Khan, filed on Sunday night, included testimony from witnesses that Khan had directly threatened the inspector general of Pakistan’s police and the judge overseeing Gill’s case.

“You…get ready for it, we will also take action against you,” Khan is quoted as saying. “All of you must be ashamed.”

The police report claimed that these words violated the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act, a law prohibiting threats against Pakistani government officials. If tried and found guilty, the ex-prime minister could face life in prison although some legal experts have speculated that his words would be considered sufficiently ambiguous to avoid prosecution.

In the months since his removal from office, Khan has accused the United States, opposition politicians, including current prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, and the country’s military of conspiring against him. In his speech on Sunday night, Khan alleged that the country’s military had supported violence against PTI supporters and claimed that both the military and the Pakistan Electoral Commission had worked to undermine the party. 

Khan is scheduled to appear before the court in Islamabad on Thursday, where he is expected to request the case’s dismissal.

Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for the National Interest.

Image: Reuters.