Jul 21. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Former Pakistani Prime Minister and opposition leader Imran Khan has said that during his year in prison he has been locked up “in an isolation cell for terrorists” and in conditions contrary to human rights.
“I am locked in a cell measuring 2 by 2.5 metres, which is usually reserved for terrorists to ensure they have no contact with anyone,” he explained in an interview published this Sunday by the British newspaper ‘The Sunday Times’ and conducted while he was still in prison and with the mediation of his lawyer.
“It’s solitary confinement with hardly any room to move. I’m under constant surveillance and they record me 24/7. They deny me the most basic human and prisoner rights, such as visits,” he said.
Jan also referred to the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to award 93 seats to candidates of his party, the Pakistan Movement for Justice (PTI), from the quota reserved for women and minorities following the elections in February.
The opposition leader said that the PTI “has achieved a significant majority of around 175 seats, not the 93 that were officially recognised after the usurpation.”
In the interview, Jan explained that he spends most of his time making plans for the future and insisted that he intends to return to the political front line.
“I am locked up, but the entire country looks to me for hope and resilience. Most importantly, my prayers keep me ready. My faith in Allah ensures that justice will eventually prevail over tyranny,” he said.
A court last week ordered Khan to be released in the Iddat case, the last of the ongoing legal proceedings, but he has remained in prison under a new order related to the Toshakhana case in which he is being investigated for illicit enrichment by selling gifts from various foreign dignitaries for personal enrichment.
In the ‘iddat’ case, Jan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sued by Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, Jawar Farid Maneka, who claimed that she had married Jan during the ‘iddat’ period, the three-month period a woman has to go through after a divorce or widowhood before she has a relationship or marriage with another man.
Another now-closed case against Jan was the Ciphergate case, which stems from Jan’s decision to present a document during a public event in March 2022 claiming it was a diplomatic cable from a foreign country — a veiled reference to the United States — that had conspired to remove him from power. Jan was also acquitted.
Finally, Jan has been accused of inciting violence during the wave of political unrest that followed his arrest in May last year, which the country’s prosecutor’s office considers a terrorist crime. This violence was carried out by his supporters — who in turn denounced police persecution — during protests against Jan’s arrest in May 2023.
A report by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released on 1 July said Jan was being held “without legal basis” in a series of politically motivated cases aimed at removing him from politics. It also called for Jan to be immediately released and compensated for his time in prison.
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