The United Kingdom\u2019s House of Lords on Thursday\u00a0held a debate on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s detention and health with concern expressed over his jail access.<\/p>\n
Imran has been imprisoned since August 2023 and is currently serving a sentence at Adiala Jail in a \u00a3190 million corruption case. He also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) related to the May 9, 2023, protests.<\/p>\n
Initiating the debate, Labour Party member Baroness Alexander of Cleveden said the discussion was timely given Imran’s “deteriorating welfare”, citing concerns over his health, conditions of detention, access to medical care, denial of family visits and recurring questions regarding access to justice.<\/p>\n
She said the debate was not intended to endorse any one politician or their past record. \u201cImran Khan, like every politician in the past, present, and future, has made mistakes, but this is about making our voice heard on the concerns that have been raised,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Alexander expressed concern over what she described as a pattern of weaponising the legal system to keep Imran\u00a0under detention and away from political activity, noting that the former prime minister was not just any other prisoner.<\/p>\n
Highlighting the issue of family access, she said that despite previous assurances, Imran\u2019s immediate family remained\u00a0effectively barred from seeing him.<\/p>\n
His sons, Sulaiman Khan\u00a0and Kasim Khan, who are British citizens, have not been permitted to visit him since December last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should have the right to visit their father in a way that does not affect their entitlement to British consular protection,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
She urged Minister Baroness Chapman to explore humanitarian access for Imran\u2019s sons to help secure visas that would allow them full diplomatic protection, enabling them to visit their father without risking their safety. She also called on the UK government to use its influence to uphold the principle of justice.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Conservative Party member Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon said the government of Pakistan should ensure that Imran received an independent specialist medical assessment, including by a professional of his choice.<\/p>\n
He expressed concern over the denial of access to close family members and called for Imran\u2019s transfer to house detention. \u201cHouse detention would ensure that legal processes are observed while mitigating concerns around welfare, transparency\u00a0and proportionality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While commending Pakistan for its mediation role in the Middle East conflict, Lord Ahmad urged that those in detention be treated fairly. \u201cAt a time when the eyes of the world are on Pakistan, as it provides a glimmer of hope amid the dark clouds of war, it must also reflect on how it treats detainees, especially figures of such prominence,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The House called on the UK government to use Commonwealth and other platforms to urge Pakistani authorities to treat Imran with dignity and compassion. It also urged Pakistan to immediately allow his family to meet him, ensure proper treatment for his eyesight, and provide fair and transparent access to legal processes without undue delay.<\/p>\n
The debate comes a day after Kasim\u00a0addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), urging the body to intervene and press the Pakistani government for the immediate release of his father.<\/p>\n
Read:\u00a0Kasim urges UNHRC intervention to end Imran’s persecution, detention immediately<\/p>\n
The former prime minister\u2019s sons have not seen him since November 2022, following an assassination attempt. They said they applied for visas in January of this year, but have yet to receive a response.<\/p>\n
However, the PTI founder was allowed to telephone his sons from Adiala Jail\u00a0on Eid day, speaking with them for around 25 to 30 minutes. During the call, his sons inquired about his health, while Imran expressed happiness at being able to speak to them on the festive occasion. He was brought out of the compound to a special room for the call and returned to the compound afterwards.<\/p>\n
Last week, Jemima Goldsmith, the ex-wife of Imran,\u00a0made a direct appeal\u00a0to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to allow their sons to visit their father in prison.<\/p>\n
In response, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that the sons of Imran\u00a0do not require visas\u00a0to visit Pakistan to meet their father, upon which Jemima replied that the government was refusing visas for their sons, in an\u00a0attempt to deprive them of British protection\u00a0in the case of a possible arrest upon arrival in Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United Kingdom\u2019s House of Lords on Thursday\u00a0held a debate on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s detention and health with concern expressed over his jail access. Imran has been imprisoned since August 2023 and is currently serving a sentence at Adiala Jail in a \u00a3190 million corruption case. He also faces pending trials under …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2893,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2888\/revisions\/2893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}