IMRAN KHAN was issued a court summons today to face contempt charges over alleged threats to a judge he made at a demonstration.

The former Pakistani prime minister, who fell from power after a no-confidence vote in April, has staged a series of mass rallies accusing MPs of a constitutional coup against him as the country’s elected leader.

The charge relates to his warning to Judge Zeba Chaudry on Saturday: “Get ready for it, we will also take action against you.” 

Mr Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party said he would examine the summons but that in its opinion the High Court lacks the authority to try him. The government is already prosecuting him on terrorism charges.

Police also arrested Mr Khan’s aide Shahbaz Gill after a raid on his flat, taking him away in handcuffs. Mr Gill is charged with treason for suggesting on TV that soldiers should disobey “illegal” orders. 

The charge can carry a death sentence, while Mr Khan’s maximum sentence if convicted of the terror charges he faces would be 14 years. But any conviction would bar him from standing for political office for life.

The cricket idol-turned-politician said when he was elected in 2018 that he would break Pakistan’s history of rule by a handful of powerful families alternating with military coups. 

He claims that the military had a hand in his overthrow by parliament and that it was carried out in the interests of the United States, which had clashed with him over Pakistan’s close relations with China and his support for the Taliban in Afghanistan. Washington has denied any involvement.