Imran Khan’s arrest, cases Pakistan’s internal matter: minister on UN report

ISLAMABAD: Minister of Law Azam Nazeer Tarar has reacted to the United Nations Working Group’s report on the arrest and pending cases against former prime minister Imran Khan, terming it an internal matter of Pakistan.

A UN human rights working group said in an opinion issued on Monday that former prime minister Imran Khan was arbitrarily imprisoned in violation of international law.

The Geneva-based UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said 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.”

Tarar stated that Pakistan enforces its constitution and existing laws through its courts as an independent state. He emphasised that any demand beyond the constitution, law, and international norms would be considered discriminatory, biased, and against justice.

The law minister affirmed that Imran Khan is in jail as a convicted prisoner and has all the rights granted by the country’s constitution, law, and international norms.

On August 5, 2023, a trial court in Islamabad convicted the PTI founder in a case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for concealing details of state gifts. He was sentenced to three years in jail and arrested by Punjab police later that day from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.

Following his conviction, the ECP disqualified him for five years. However, the Islamabad High Court later suspended his three-year sentence.

Imran is currently serving his sentence in the Iddat case at Adiala jail. His sentences in the two Toshakhana cases were suspended, and the Islamabad High Court acquitted him in the cipher case.

Last week, an Islamabad district and sessions court rejected the pleas of the PTI founder and his wife to suspend their seven-year sentences in the Iddat case.