Q 12:35

ثُمَّ بَدَا لَهُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ مَا رَأَوُا۟ ٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ لَيَسْجُنُنَّهُۥ حَتَّىٰ حِينٍ

Translations

Then it appeared to them after they had seen the signs that al-'Azeez should surely imprison him for a time.

Sahih International · EN

Puis, après qu'ils eurent vu les preuves (de son innocence), il leur sembla qu'ils devaient l'emprisonner pour un temps.

Muhammad Hamidullah · FR

Tafsir

Then the view of the minister and his people, after they had seen evidence of his innocence, was that they should put him in prison for an unknown period, so that the scandal was not exposed.

Al-Mukhtasar fi Tafsir al-Quran · Tafsir Center for Quranic Studies

Read Ibn Kathir (Ibn Kathir (abridged, English))

Then it occurred to them, after they had seen the proofs (of his innocence), to imprison him for a time (35) Yusuf is imprisoned without Justification Allah says, 'Then it occurred to them that it would be in their interest to imprison Yusuf for a time, even after they were convinced of his innocence and saw the proofs of his truth, honesty and chastity.' It appears, and Allah knows best, that they imprisoned him after the news of what happened spread. They wanted to pretend that Yusuf was the one who tried to seduce the 'Aziz's wife and that they punished him with imprisonment. This is why when the Pharaoh asked Yusuf to leave jail a long time afterwards, he refused to leave until his innocence was acertained and the allegation of his betrayal was refuted. When this was successfully achieved, Yusuf left the prison with his honor intact, peace be upon him.

Arabic text: Tanzil (Uthmani). Translations: Sahih International (en), Muhammad Hamidullah (fr). tanzil.net