Top Vatican cleric Cardinal Pell convicted of child sex crimes

Agencies
February 26, 2019

Melbourne, Feb 26: Australia's senior most Catholic cleric Cardinal George Pell has been found guilty of five counts of child sexual assault and is set to be jailed. 

The 77-year-old cardinal, who was Vatican's treasurer and close to the Pope, was found guilty of orally raping one choirboy and molesting another in Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral 22 years ago.

The trial ran for five weeks in Victoria county Court. 

The cardinal was Archbishop of Melbourne when he abused the two 13-year-old boys and was managing the church's response to widespread child abuse by priests through the Melbourne Response , which he designed, the Age reported.

He was found guilty in a retrial last December, with the verdict sending shockwaves through the Vatican and around the world. 

A jury in an earlier trial was discharged, in September, when it was unable to reach a verdict. His legal team will appeal against the conviction, the paper reported.

County Court chief judge Peter Kidd has revoked the suppression order that prevented media reporting the results of the trial and retrial.

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News Network
November 27,2025

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Authorities at Pakistan’s high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Wednesday dismissed speculation about the condition of imprisoned former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, rejecting rumours that he had been moved out of the facility or was in danger. Officials said Khan was in “good health” and described the viral death claims as “baseless.”

“There is no truth to reports about his transfer from Adiala Jail,” the Rawalpindi prison administration said in a statement, according to Geo News. “He is fully healthy and receiving complete medical attention.”

Amid swirling rumours on social media, Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), urged the federal government to issue an official clarification and demanded that authorities allow his family to meet him immediately, Dawn reported.

The frenzy began after Khan’s three sisters called for an impartial probe into what they described as a “brutal” police assault on them and other PTI supporters outside Adiala Jail last week. Soon after, several social media handles circulated unverified claims alleging that Khan had been “killed” inside the prison.

The rumours intensified when a handle named “Afghanistan Times” claimed that “credible sources” had confirmed Khan’s “murder” and that his body had been moved out of the jail — allegations that have not been verified by any credible agency.

Imran Khan, PTI’s patron-in-chief, has been lodged in the Rawalpindi prison since August 2023 in multiple cases. For over a month, an undeclared restriction has prevented family members and senior PTI leaders from meeting him. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has reportedly been denied access despite making seven attempts.

In a letter to Punjab Police Chief Usman Anwar, Khan’s sisters — Noreen Niazi, Aleema Khan, and Dr. Uzma Khan — said they were “peacefully protesting” outside the jail when police allegedly launched an unprovoked assault after streetlights were switched off.

“At 71, I was seized by my hair, thrown to the ground and dragged across the road,” Noreen Niazi said, alleging that other women present were also slapped and manhandled.

Adiala Jail officials reiterated that speculation over Imran Khan’s health was unfounded and insisted that his well-being was being ensured, Geo News reported.

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