UN torture expert decries Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan's detention

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan is being held in conditions that could amount to torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment, the United Nations' special rapporteur on torture warned on Friday.

Alice Jill Edwards urged Pakistan to take immediate and effective action to address reports of the 73-year-old's inhumane and undignified detention conditions.

"I call on Pakistani authorities to ensure that Imran Khan's conditions of detention fully comply with international norms and standards," Edwards said in a statement.

"Since his transfer to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on September 26, 2023, Imran Khan has reportedly been held for excessive periods in solitary confinement, confined for 23 hours a day in his cell, and with highly restricted access to the outside world," she said.

"His cell is reportedly under constant camera surveillance."

Imran Khan an all-rounder who captained Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, upended Pakistani politics by becoming the prime minister in 2018.

Edwards said prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement is prohibited under international human rights law and constitutes a form of psychological torture when it lasts longer than 15 days.

"Khan's solitary confinement should be lifted without delay. Not only is it an unlawful measure, extended isolation can bring about very harmful consequences for his physical and mental health," she said.

UN special rapporteurs are independent experts mandated by the Human Rights Council. They do not, therefore, speak for the United Nations itself.

Initially a strong backer of the country's powerful military leadership, Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in 2022, and has since been jailed on a slew of corruption charges that he denies.

Imran Khan's supporters say he is being denied prison visits from lawyers and family after a fiery social media post this month accusing army leader Field Marshal Asim Munir of persecuting him.

According to information Edwards has received, visits from Khan's lawyers and relatives are frequently interrupted or ended prematurely, while he is held in a small cell lacking natural light and adequate ventilation.

"Anyone deprived of liberty must be treated with humanity and dignity," the UN expert said.

"Detention conditions must reflect the individual's age and health situation, including appropriate sleeping arrangements, climatic protection, adequate space, lighting, heating, and ventilation."

Edwards has raised Imran Khan's situation with the Pakistani government.

Agence France-Presse