Meet Imran Khan, Pakistan’s bad boy cricket legend: the playboy-turned-prime minister is now behind bars – but on what charges, and which of his three marriages does he call his ‘biggest mistake’?

Playboy, socialite, cricket star, prime minister, disgraced politician and convict … these are all labels that apply to 71-year-old Imran Khan.

Keeping up with the political events in Pakistan is no easy feat, and the same is true of the latest news on Khan. The former prime minister is currently serving time after being found guilty on multiple charges – the media reports that he is facing at least 150 legal cases against him.

Khan founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 1996 and was elected prime minister in 2018. His downfall came in 2022 when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote by his political opponents – the first for a Pakistan prime minister. He was barred from running for office for five years in 2023, and has been jailed in cases relating to leaking state secrets, violating marriage laws, unlawfully buying and selling gifts and more. His supporters, however, slammed the cases as being politically motivated.

Imran Khan, the Oxford-educated “playboy”

The son of a civil engineer, Khan grew up in Lahore. He studied at the University of Oxford, where he graduated with a degree in economics, politics and philosophy. In 1992, he led Pakistan’s national cricket team to a world victory as its captain.

As his career developed, so too did his reputation as a playboy, and he was often spotted at nightclubs. But it was his marriage to British heiress Jemima Goldsmith in 1995 that really elevated his status, as well as his success on the cricket pitch.

In 2018, more than two decades after he started his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Khan saw his political star rise. He turned his playboy image around, presenting himself as a religious figure and introducing welfare programmes.