Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan is in jail since August 2023. His arrest and jail sentence after being ousted from power has brought into focus the political tradition of Pakistan in which the leaders who were in power have had to face situations like jail, arrest or leaving the country after being ousted from the government.
But this story is not limited to Pakistan only. In many countries of the world, former Prime Ministers and Presidents have had to go to jail in corruption, abuse of power, human rights violations, coups or other criminal cases. In South Korea, many former presidents were sentenced to jail. Such examples are also found in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Israel and many other countries.
Pakistan: Long history of going to jail after coming to power
Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy
Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy was the fifth Prime Minister of Pakistan. In January 1962, he was arrested by the government of the then military ruler Ayub Khan. He was accused of anti-state activities and kept in Karachi jail. His period of detention was about one year. He was released in January 1963.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had been both the Prime Minister and President of Pakistan. He was arrested after the military coup of General Zia-ul-Haq in 1977. He was accused of being involved in a conspiracy to murder a political rival. He was sentenced to death and his appeal was also rejected. Bhutto remained in jail for more than one and a half years. He was hanged in Rawalpindi jail on 4 April 1979.
Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto was the first woman Prime Minister of Pakistan. After entering politics, he was arrested and detained several times by the military government of General Zia-ul-Haq. In 1984, after coming out of jail and house arrest, she got permission to go abroad and went to Britain. After returning to Pakistan in 1985, he was again put under house arrest. He was also arrested in 1986. Available records show that his imprisonment and detention continued in different phases for several years.
Nawaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif was the Prime Minister of Pakistan three times. After the military coup of Pervez Musharraf in 1999, he was arrested and sent to jail. Later he got permission to leave the country and went to Saudi Arabia. In 2018, he was again sentenced to jail in corruption cases. In July 2018, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Avenfield property case. In December 2018, he was sentenced to seven years in prison in another corruption case. However, he did not spend the entire period of these sentences in jail. In 2019, due to health reasons, he was allowed out of jail and went to London for treatment.
South Korea also has a similar history.
South Korea is one of the world’s most famous examples in this matter. There, many former presidents had to go to jail in cases like corruption, coup or abuse of power after being out of power.
chun du-hwan
Chun Doo-hwan ruled as President of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. He was later convicted in cases to the 1979 military coup and corruption. He was initially sentenced to death, which was later changed to life imprisonment. Later he was released through presidential pardon. He served a jail sentence in the 1990s. In South Korea, action was taken against him in cases to coup and bribery.
roh tae-woo
Roh Tae-woo was the President of South Korea from 1988 to 1993. In 1995, he was arrested in cases to corruption and the 1979 military coup. He was initially sentenced to 22 years in prison, which was later reduced to 17 years. Later he got presidential pardon and came out of jail.
Lee Myung-bak
Lee Myung-bak was the President of South Korea from 2008 to 2013. After leaving office, he was accused of bribery, corruption and embezzlement. He was arrested in 2018. He was later sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released from jail after receiving presidential pardon in 2022. That means his sentence was for 15 years, but he did not spend the entire 15 years in jail.
park geun-hye
Park Geun-hye was the first female President of South Korea. After impeachment in 2017, he was removed from office and arrested. He received a long prison sentence in cases to corruption, abuse of power and interference in government affairs. His sentence varied between 20 and 25 years in different phases. In 2021, the then President Moon Jae-in granted him presidential pardon. He spent about four years in jail.
yoon suk yeol
Yoon Suk Yeol was the President of South Korea. A political crisis arose after his decision of martial law in 2024. In December 2024, Parliament passed an impeachment motion against him and in April 2025 the Constitutional Court removed him from office. Action was taken against him in a criminal case to rebellion. His case is being seen as an example of legal action being taken after being removed from power, like other former presidents of South Korea.
Has any Prime Minister or President of Bangladesh gone to jail like this?
Khaleda Zia has been the Prime Minister of Bangladesh twice. In February 2018, he was sentenced to five years in prison in a corruption case. Later his punishment in this case was increased to 10 years. He was also sentenced to seven years in the second corruption case. In this way the total punishment was 17 years. She remained in jail/detention for about six years. He was released after Sheikh Hasina was removed from power in 2024.
After this, in January 2025, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh acquitted him in a major corruption case and overturned his 10-year sentence.
Sheikh Hasina
Sheikh Hasina went to India after leaving power in 2024. Many cases were registered against him in Bangladesh. In July 2025, he was sentenced in his absence to six months in jail in a contempt case. Later in November 2025, he was also sentenced to death in his absence in a case to crimes against humanity. However, she did not stay in jail because she is out of Bangladesh. He is in India till August 2026 and Bangladesh has been demanding his extradition.
Some other examples?
Malaysia: Najib Razak was the Prime Minister of Malaysia and was convicted of corruption and money laundering in the 1MDB scam. He was originally sentenced to 12 years in prison. Later his sentence was reduced to six years. He is in jail since August 2022 and is serving his jail sentence till 2026. That means his current sentence is six years, although this case has passed through many courts and appeals.
Peru: Alberto Fujimori was the President of Peru from 1990 to 2000. Many serious allegations were made against him including corruption, human rights violation and murder. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2009. This punishment was in cases to murder, human rights violation and abuse of power. Later he got presidential pardon and came out of jail. That means he was sentenced to 25 years, but did not spend the entire period in jail.
Peru: Pedro Castillo was the President of Peru from 2021 to 2022. In December 2022, he tried to dissolve Parliament and impose emergency rule. After this he was removed from the post of President and taken into custody. He was sent to jail in a case to rebellion. In 2023, he was sentenced to three years of pre-trial custody. It is important to understand here that this was pre-trial judicial custody rather than a normal criminal punishment.
Peru: Ollanta Humala was the President of Peru from 2011 to 2016. He earlier faced pre-trial custody in a case to corruption and money laundering. Later he was tried and sentenced. However, in this case it is important to look at the time spent in jail and the final punishment separately.
Brazil: Lula da Silva was the President of Brazil from 2003 to 2010 and later became the President again. He was convicted in a corruption case and sent to jail in 2018. He spent about 580 days in jail. Later his sentence was canceled and he got the opportunity to contest the presidential elections again. That’s why Lula’s case is special – he was jailed, but his conviction was later quashed.
Brazil: Fernando Collor was the President of Brazil from 1990 to 1992. The Supreme Court sentenced him to eight years and 10 months in jail in 2023 in the corruption and money laundering case. In April 2025, he was ordered to be sent to jail and he was arrested. So the “sentence” in his case is eight years and 10 months, while the actual time spent in jail is less.
Argentina: Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was the President of Argentina from 2007 to 2015. In 2022, he was sentenced to six years in prison in a corruption case. However, she did not go to jail immediately. The case remained on appeal and due to his political position, the legal process regarding his sentence continued for a long time.
South Africa: Jacob Zuma was the President of South Africa. In 2021, he was sentenced to 15 months in jail for contempt of court. He spent about two months in jail. Later he was allowed out of jail on medical grounds and political circumstances.
France: Nicolas Sarkozy was the President of France from 2007 to 2012. He was convicted in cases to corruption and attempting to influence the judicial process. In his case, there was a prison sentence, but there was also a provision to serve some part of the sentence through options like electronic monitoring. Therefore, it would not be correct to write it directly as “spent many years in jail”.
Israel: Ehud Olmert was the Prime Minister of Israel. He was sentenced to 27 months in jail in cases to corruption and bribery. He actually spent 16 months in jail and was released on parole in July 2017. He was the first former Prime Minister of Israel to serve a prison sentence.
