evidence: On May 9, 2023, former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was apprehended on the premises of the Islamabad High Court by paramilitary troops under the direction of the Pakistan Army. The arrest, which a number of experts have called illegal, sparked a wave of protests throughout the country, some of which became violent when Khan’s supporters began attacking military installations. The events were not dissimilar to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol—with the distinction that, unlike Donald Trump, who only lost an election, Khan was publicly and violently arrested. In response, the army, which has termed the events Pakistan’s 9/11, unleashed a brutal crackdown on Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), that has still not abated. Thousands of party workers and activists have been thrown in jail, more than a hundred politicians from the party have been forced to defect, and the media has been banned from mentioning Khan’s name. Meanwhile, a whole host of court cases have been registered against Khan, including murder and terrorism charges as well as accusations of corruption. [...] Khan is also accused in a separate case of selling state gifts illegally. The case against Khan is based on the technicality that he sold gifts given to him while he was prime minister, and then paid the Gifts Treasury [Toshakhana] a portion of his earnings instead of depositing the items in the treasury first, as the rules stipulate. Recent disclosures have shown, however, that hundreds of politicians were benefiting from lax regulations over the retention of state gifts.