In a fresh setback to jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Pakistan’s top election body on Tuesday disqualified him for five years following his conviction in a corruption case.

In a notification issued on Tuesday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was disqualified after being found guilty of corrupt practices under Section 167 of the Elections Act, 2017 and his sentencing for three years.

The ECP declared Khan, 70, disqualified under Article 63(1)(h) of the Constitution read with Section 232 of the Elections Act, 2017.

“Therefore, Mr Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi is disqualified for a period of five years and is also de-notified as a returned candidate from constituency NA-45 Kurram-I,” said the notification, a copy of which is available with PTI.

An Islamabad trial court on Saturday sentenced Khan to three years in prison in the Toshakhana corruption case in which the embattled former Prime Minister is accused of profiting from selling expensive state gifts when he was in power. Khan was subsequently arrested by Punjab police from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.

Earlier on Tuesday, Khan challenged his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case in the Islamabad High Court, saying the verdict by a “biased” judge was a “slap in the face due process and fair trial” and “a gross travesty of justice”.

Khan, who is currently in the Attock Jail, appealed his conviction and the three-year prison sentence in the case by filing a plea through his lawyers at the High Court.

The petition will be taken up on Wednesday by a two-member bench.

In his petition, Khan said that the trial judge made the conclusions on the basis of a “predisposed mind” instead of the merit of the case because the petitioner’s lawyer was not given the right of presenting arguments.

Khan’s plea stated that the judgment passed by the trial court judge was “tainted with bias, is a nullity in the eye of the law and is liable to be set aside”.

It said the order was issued without providing the petitioner with a chance to fight his case and alleged that Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar had refused to hear the arguments of Haris, Imran’s counsel in the Toshakhana case, on the pretext that he was late — which the plea claimed was because he was filing other applications with the Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court.

Thus, the petition said, the verdict of the trial court was a “slap in the face due process and fair trial”.