The Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says the “appropriate remedy” would be to release Khan “immediately”.
A United Nations human rights working group says former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was arbitrarily arrested in violation of international law.
In an opinion issued on Monday, the Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that “the appropriate remedy would be to immediately release Mr. Khan and grant him an enforceable right to compensation and other remedies, of accordance with international law”.
“[The] The working group concluded that his detention had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office. Thus, from the outset, this accusation was not based on law and was allegedly instrumentalized for political purposes,” the UN group said, according to a report published on Pakistan’s Dawn news website.
Since his removal as prime minister in April 2022, Khan, 71, has been involved in more than 200 court cases and has been arrested since August last year. He calls the cases politically motivated and orchestrated by his political enemies to keep him out of power.
Last week, an Islamabad court rejected a request to suspend the prison sentences of Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, whose marriage was considered illegal under Islamic law.
In April this year, a Pakistani high court suspended the 14-year prison sentences of Khan and his wife in a corruption case. Khan also had another 10-year sentence for treason overturned this month.
But he remains in Adiala prison, south of the capital Islamabad, due to a conviction for illegal marriage.
Rana Sanaullah, an adviser to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, said last week that “the government will try to keep him in prison 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 series of cases.
Khan was deposed by a parliamentary vote of no confidence after falling out with top generals who once supported him.
He then waged an unprecedented campaign against them and accused senior army officers of conspiring in an assassination attempt in which he was shot during a political rally in November 2022. The military rejected the allegation.
Khan’s brief detention in May 2023 sparked nationwide unrest, which in turn triggered a sweeping crackdown on his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and its top leaders.
PTI candidates were forced to run as independents in the February general election, although candidates loyal to the PTI still secured more seats than any other party.
However, they were removed from power by a broad coalition of parties considered loyal to the military.
On Friday, Pakistan’s lower house of parliament denounced a US Congress resolution calling for an independent investigation into allegations that Pakistan’s elections this year were rigged.
Although Pakistan’s government expressed anger at the US resolution, Khan’s party welcomed it, saying his election victory was turned into a defeat for the country’s electoral commission.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
