ISLAMABAD -- A special court on Tuesday sentenced former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to 10 years in prison, respectively, for exposing official secrets.

In an official statement, Khan's political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) confirmed the sentence, adding that they will challenge the decision in a higher court.

The case, commonly known as the cipher case, had been heard in Adiala Jail in north Rawalpindi city where both Khan and Qureshi are facing imprisonment in other cases.

A few days before facing a no-confidence movement in parliament which led to his ouster from the government last year, Khan displayed a paper in a public rally, claiming that it was a diplomatic correspondence between officials of Pakistan and a foreign country to hatch a conspiracy to topple his government.

While announcing the verdict, the judge said that both accused made the classified document public during the rally, using it for their political gain.

The court added that their move had harmed the country's reputation and affected security and diplomatic affairs.