On 20 August 2003, in a separate and this time criminal case, a jury in the District Court of Queensland convicted Hanson and Ettridge of electoral fraud. Both of them were sentenced to three years imprisonment for falsely claiming that 500 members of the 'Pauline Hanson Support Movement' were members of the political organisation 'Pauline Hanson's One Nation', in order to register that organisation in Queensland as a political party and apply for electoral funding. Because the registration was found to be unlawful, Hanson's receipt of electoral funding worth A$498,637 resulted in two further convictions for dishonestly obtaining property – each with three-year sentences, to run concurrently with the first. Hanson's initial reaction to the verdict was – "Rubbish, I'm not guilty. It's a joke."[65] Prime Minister John Howard said it was "a very long, unconditional sentence" and Bronwyn Bishop said Hanson was a political prisoner, comparing her conviction with Robert Mugabe's treatment of Zimbabwean opponents.[66]
