FORMER Worcester schoolboy turned Prime Minister is now being housed in a high-security prison.

Imran Khan, former RGS pupil and cricketer for Worcestershire County Cricket Club, was handed a three-year jail sentence for corruption at the Attock Prison in Pakistan, known for its harsh conditions.

It is the second time this year that Khan has been detained, joining other former Pakistani prime ministers who had been arrested and seen military interventions throughout the country’s political history.

The court ruled on Saturday, August 5 that the national cricketing hero and former Prime Minister, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022 but remains the country’s leading opposition figure, had concealed assets after selling state gifts.

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The prison sentence could bar him from politics under a law that prohibits people with a criminal conviction from holding or running for public office.

He could also lose the chairmanship of the party he founded, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI.

PTI lawyer Shoaib Shaheen said police at the prison refused entry to a legal team who went to see Khan. He said the party will file an appeal as there are “plenty of loopholes in the verdict.”

Authorities have further tightened security around the prison, which already has armed guards in watchtowers, by erecting barriers and blocking roads to keep people away.

They have also instructed locals not to allow media onto their roofs to stop photographs and videos from leaking.

Critics say efforts to put Khan behind bars are politically motivated and have intensified ahead of elections due to be held later this year.

They argue that Khan’s popularity and a large support base, combined with his ability to mobilise massive crowds, pose a threat to the ruling coalition and its backers in Pakistan’s powerful military that has been the final arbiter of the country’s politics since independence from Britain in 1947.

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In May, Khan was taken to a well-appointed guesthouse on a police compound in Islamabad under a Supreme Court order, where he was allowed visitors and meetings with party colleagues.

The May arrest on corruption charges caused a wave of violent protests that swept the country. Days later, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered his release, saying his arrest was illegal.