Pakistan government submits details, photos of ex-PM Imran Khan's life in jail
- Last updated: June 6, 2024 | 18:29
Tariq Butt, Correspondent/ Reuters
The federal government on Thursday submitted the details of the facilities being provided to Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan in Adiala Jail Rawalpindi.
Imran Khan, who has been incarcerated, had told the Supreme Court during a hearing on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law amendments case that he was being kept in solitary confinement.
The government said that during the hearing on May 30, Imran Khan, who had joined the hearing via video link claimed that his legal team was being denied access to him and that he was being kept in solitary confinement.
The pictures shared with the court showed that the PTI founder was provided with several facilities that a common prisoner cannot imagine since he's a former prime minister.
Imran Khan has an exercise bike and stretching belt for physical fitness, books, a separate kitchen, a special menu, an exclusive gallery for a walk, LED, a room cooler, and a study table.
In the detailed document submitted to the court, the government not only provided photos of all the facilities, but also names of all the people who have visited him so far.
"If this court may deem appropriate and necessary, it may appoint a judicial officer in the form of a commission to verify the facts as submitted before this court," the government said.
"It is, therefore, respectfully prayed that the instant application be allowed and the additional documents be placed before the court for the record," it added.
According to the standard operating procedures (SOPs), PTI leaders Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Sher Afzal Marwat, and Barrister Umair Niazi were designated as focal persons for coordinating visits at Adiala Jail.
Under the outlined guidelines, Imran Khan was to be allowed to meet his family and lawyers in two separate sessions on Tuesdays, while a single session on Thursdays will be reserved for his lawyers/friends.
Visitors intending to meet Imran Khan have to coordinate with the jail authorities through the designated focal persons, who will provide the visitor list — consisting of two individuals per focal person — one day before the scheduled meeting, adhering to the six-person limit.
In an appearance before the court via video-link later on Thursday, Khan asked Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa to have his cell conditions inspected.
Isa said he would appoint a commission to pay a surprise visit to the prison cell.
Imran Khan's party stood by its claim that he had been mistreated, and added that the pictures included were of the cell where Khan was being kept in solitary confinement.
"It is a contradiction to the claim that a former prime minister is entitled to an A class cell with an air-conditioned room & a helper to attend to the errands," his party said in response to the submission.
The pictures in the government submission showed a messy bedroom with a study table, a chair, a single bed, a cooler, a washbasin next to a washroom in the corner, with a flat TV screen hung on a wall. It shows shirts thrown on the back of the chair and trousers, pants and a towel hung on a wall.
Another picture shows a long walkway with a barracks on both sides, describing it as an "exclusive gallery for walk, twice a day." Another shows what it says is a separate kitchen with condiments, one more showed a collection of books on Islam, history and politics, and other pictures show a room with an exercise bike and fitness equipment.