The Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said the “appropriate measure” would be to release Khan “immediately”.
The United Nations Human Rights Working Group says that former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been arbitrarily jailed in violation of international law.
In an opinion released on Monday, the Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said “the appropriate measure would be to immediately release Mr Khan and grant him his enforceable right to compensation and other reparations in accordance with international law”.
,[The] According to a report published on Pakistan’s Dawn News website, the UN group said, “The Working Group concluded that there was no legal basis for his detention and that it appeared to be intended to disqualify him from holding political office. Thus, from the very beginning, the prosecution was not based on law and was allegedly used for a political purpose.”
Since his ouster as prime minister in April 2022, 71-year-old Khan has been embroiled in more than 200 legal cases and has been in jail since August last year. He says the cases are politically motivated and hatched by his political enemies to keep him out of power.
Last week, an Islamabad court rejected a plea to suspend the jail sentences of Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, whose marriage was declared illegal under Islamic law.
In April this year, a Pakistani high court suspended the 14-year jail sentence of Khan and his wife in a corruption case. Khan’s 10-year sentence for treason was also overturned this month.
But he is still lodged in Adiala Jail, south of the capital, Islamabad, on charges of illegal marriage.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s adviser Rana Sanaullah said last week that “the government will try to keep him in jail for as long as possible”, according to the AFP news agency.
Analysts say Pakistan’s powerful military, which has ruled directly for decades and wields immense power, is likely behind the cases.
Khan was removed from office through a no-confidence motion in parliament after he fell out with top generals who once supported him.
He then launched an unprecedented campaign against him and accused top military officials of plotting an assassination attempt that saw him shot dead during a political rally in November 2022. The military rejected the allegation.
Khan’s brief arrest in May 2023 sparked nationwide unrest, resulting in a sweeping crackdown against his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and its senior leaders.
PTI candidates were forced to stand as independent candidates in the February general election, although candidates loyal to the PTI won more seats than any other party.
However, he was kept from power by a broad coalition of parties seen as loyal to the military.
On Friday, the lower house of Pakistan’s Parliament condemned a United States Congressional resolution demanding an independent probe into allegations of fraud in this year’s elections in Pakistan.
Although the Pakistan government expressed displeasure over the US proposal, Khan’s party praised it, saying that their victory in the election was turned into a defeat by the country’s Election Commission.
Disclaimer : The content in this article is for educational and informational purposes only.
