The PTI on Saturday expressed grave concern over a report issued by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, saying it exposed the “degrading treatment” of party founder and former prime minister Imran Khan during his incarceration at Adiala Jail and amounted to a “blatant violation of international law and fundamental human rights.”
The report, released on Friday, claimed the PTI founder is being held in conditions that could “amount to inhuman or degrading treatment and called on authorities to comply with international norms and standards.”
In a statement issued by PTI’s Central Media Department, the party said the UN report unequivocally confirmed what it has consistently maintained for a long time: that Imran Khan was being subjected to “inhuman, unlawful, and degrading treatment motivated entirely by political vendetta.”
The PTI asserted that the report reaffirmed Imran’s 23 hours of solitary confinement, constant CCTV surveillance, isolation from the outside world, obstruction of meetings with legal counsel and family, denial of religious practice, and deprivation of basic human necessities, which constituted a blatant violation of prison rules and a flagrant breach of international human rights law.
“According to the United Nations, solitary confinement exceeding 15 days falls under the category of psychological torture, while Imran Khan has been subjected to this agonising process for months,” the PTI added in its statement.
The party said that subjecting a 72-year-old suffering from serious medical conditions, a spinal injury and wounds from a prior assassination attempt to such conditions, while denying adequate medical care, amounted to deliberate and calculated cruelty.
PTI demanded the immediate cessation of solitary confinement, the provision of detention conditions consistent with human dignity and international standards, unrestricted access to personal physicians and the removal of all barriers to meetings in strict compliance with judicial orders.
“This matter is no longer just about a political prisoner but has become a test of the credibility of law, justice, and human rights in Pakistan. If the treatment being meted out to Imran Khan is not stopped, it will be considered the worst example of state-sponsored violence,” the statement concluded.
However, Prime Minister’s aide Rana Ihsan Afzal dismissed the rapporteur’s findings and insisted that Imran is being treated “according to prison rules and the jail manual”.
“His children have access, and he should schedule [a call] and put in the appropriate request. There is no issue or obstacle from the government of Pakistan,” said the premier’s aide.
He added that the PTI founder is being provided facilities “greater than his rights” as a B-class prisoner.
“He has the facilities of exercise available, good food is available, and ample space is also available.”
Imran, imprisoned since August 2023, is serving a sentence at the Adiala Jail in a £190 million corruption case and also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act related to the protests of May 9, 2023.
The PTI has regularly raised concerns about his health and that of his wife. Imran’s son, Kasim Khan, expressed fear during a December 1 interview that authorities are concealing “something irreversible” about his father’s condition.
However, Uzma Khanum, Imran’s sister, said on December 2 that her incarcerated brother was “perfectly fine” after she was allowed to meet him, putting to rest rumours surrounding the former premier’s health.
In a short talk with the media after the meeting, she said: “Imran Khan’s health is perfectly fine. However, he was very angry and said that they are subjecting him to mental torture.”
She added that Imran was confined to his cell throughout the day and was allowed only a short time outside. Uzma further said that he was not in communication with anyone, and the meeting between them lasted around 30 minutes.
American Dollar Exchange Rate