UN Urges Immediate Release of Imran Khan, Labels Detention as Arbitrary

Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s detention is arbitrary and in violation of international law, according to an opinion issued by a UN human rights working group on Monday. The Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated that the “appropriate remedy would be to release Mr. Khan immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”

The working group described Khan’s legal troubles as part of a “much larger campaign of repression” against him and his PTI party, noting that members of Khan’s party were arrested, tortured, and their rallies disrupted in the lead-up to the 2024 elections. It also alleged “widespread fraud on election day, stealing dozens of parliamentary seats.”

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The Pakistani embassy in Washington has not yet commented on the matter, and Pakistan’s election commission denies any election rigging. Khan has been in jail since last August, convicted in several cases before the national election in February, and is fighting numerous other cases, which he claims are politically motivated to prevent his return to power.

Recently, Pakistani courts have suspended Khan’s jail sentences in two cases involving the illegal acquisition and sale of state gifts and overturned his conviction on charges of leaking state secrets. However, he remains imprisoned due to a conviction in another case related to the unlawfulness of his 2018 marriage and faces a trial on anti-terrorism charges connected to violence in May last year.

Khan came to power in 2018 but was ousted in 2022 through a vote of no-confidence, alleging that the US and the military establishment played a role in his ousting, a claim both parties deny. After his ousting, multiple legal cases disqualified him as a candidate in February’s election. Despite this, candidates backed by Khan won the highest number of seats, but the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) formed a coalition government.

The US, Britain, and the European Union have expressed concerns about reported irregularities in the elections and urged for a probe, while United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about violence and the suspension of mobile communications services during the elections.