UN panel demands immediate release of jailed former PM Imran Khan; Pakistan govt says internal issue – ThePrint – PTIFeed

Islamabad, July 2 (PTI) – A UN panel has demanded the immediate release of jailed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, saying at least two cases against him were “politically motivated” and aimed at excluding him from the country's political scene.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted its opinion on the detention of the 71-year-old founders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party at its 99th session, held from 18 to 27 March in Geneva.

The UN body said the detention and prosecution of Khan in the first Toshakhana corruption case and in the corruption cases were “politically motivated” to exclude him from competing in the political arena. The UN group also said it had no legal basis.

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The Pakistani government on Tuesday responded to the development by rejecting the demand, saying that the arrest of the former prime minister and the cases pending against him were internal matters. The fact that Khan has been granted redress in many cases is a manifestation of a transparent and fair judicial system and trial. Any demand that goes beyond the constitution, law and international norms will be termed discriminatory, biased and contrary to justice, Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar said in a statement responding to the UN agencies' report.

He also said that Pakistan as an independent state implements the constitution and existing laws through the courts. Imran Khan has all the rights according to the constitution and law of the country and international norms, he is in jail as a convicted prisoner, Tarar said.

His remarks come after the Pakistani government's embarrassing indictment, with the U.N. panel calling Khan's detention in at least two cases without any legal basis.

PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari, reacting to the law minister's remarks, said the issue of Khan's arrest was no longer an “internal matter” of Pakistan.

The Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued its official opinion after months of work. This is huge and reveals that Imran Khan's detention is unlawful and he must be released immediately, Bukhari said in a statement on X.

The Working Group concludes that his detention had no legal basis and appeared to have been intended to disqualify him from holding political office. I thank all those who have worked tirelessly on this case at the United Nations. This is no longer an internal matter, he added.

Dawn newspaper reported that the UN body based its opinion on detailed and uncontroversial observations by its sources regarding the ultra vires nature of the prosecution in the first Toshakhana case, as well as the context of the political repression of Khan and his party in which the prosecution took place.

The working group concluded that his detention had no legal basis and appeared to have been intended to prevent him from running for political office. Thus, from the outset, these prosecutions were not based on law and would have been instrumentalized for political purposes, it said.

She further added that the manner in which Khan was convicted in the first Toshakhana case (namely, a summary judgment in absentia) and his subsequent arrest by law enforcement officers who stormed his residence and assaulted him and his staff were concerning and compounded the illegality.

The working group also said that the prosecution of Khan in the encryption case had no legal basis, as his actions do not appear to have violated the Official Secrets Act, as has apparently been corroborated by intelligence services, according to uncontroversial information from sources. The 17-page report by the UN agency details the various cases in which Khan was arrested and how he was treated during the legal proceedings. The main cases were the two Toshakhana cases and the encryption case.

The first Tohakhana case alleges that Khan deliberately concealed details of gifts he kept from the Toshakhana, a repository where gifts given to government officials by foreign representatives during his tenure as prime minister are kept, as well as the proceeds of their declared sales.

This case is separate from the second Toshakhana corruption case against Khan and his wife Bibi, which alleged that they kept a set of jewellery received from the Saudi crown prince at an undervalued price.

The encryption case involves a diplomatic document that the Federal Investigation Agency indictment says was never returned by then-prime minister Khan, who has long maintained that the document contained a threat from the United States to overthrow his government.

Regarding his sentences in the second Toshakhana case and the Iddat case, the UN group noted: The Working Group cannot but observe the coincidence in the timing of the four prosecutions, which effectively prevented Mr. Khan from running in the general elections originally scheduled for November 2023. The elections were eventually held on 8 February 2024 while Khan continued to be in prison.

The Working Group noted that in the absence of any rebuttal from the government, it appeared that the prosecution of Mr. Khan was linked to his leadership of the PTI and reflected a desire to silence him and his supporters and exclude their political participation. The Group added that it was clear that his arrest and subsequent detention were motivated by the exercise of his freedom of assembly.

The Working Group considers that in all the circumstances of the case, the appropriate solution would be to release Mr. Khan immediately and grant him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law. The Working Group urges the government to ensure a full and independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr. Khan’s arbitrary deprivation of liberty and to take appropriate action against those responsible for the violation of his rights, the opinion said. PTI SH GRS NPK AKJ NPK NPK

This report is auto-generated by PTI News Service. ThePrint takes no responsibility for its content.

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