ISLAMABAD: Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar rebuffed the recommendations of the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention regarding PTI founder Imran Khan’s release and said the former premier’s detention was an “internal matter”.
In an opinion made public a day ago, the working group held that Imran’s prosecution and detention in the cipher and one of the two Toshakhana cases against him were “without legal basis” and politically motivated to exclude him from competing in the political arena.
The report, dated June 18, noted that the government had been transmitted a communication on Imran’s case in November 2023, but had not received a response, nor a request to extend the time limit to reply.
Now, the working group has requested the government to take the steps necessary to “remedy the situation of Mr Khan without delay and bring it into conformity with the relevant international norms”.
The working group noted how Imran was convicted in the first Toshakhana case — through a summary judgement delivered in absentia — and his subsequent arrest by law enforcement personnel, who broke into his residence and assaulted him and his staff, was concerning and compounded the illegality.
The working group further said that Imran’s prosecution in the cipher case “lacks a grounding in law, as his actions do not appear to have violated the Official Secrets Act, as was apparently corroborated by the intelligence services, according to the source’s unrebutted submissions”.
Regarding his sentences in the second Toshakhana case and the Iddat case, the UN group noted: “The working group cannot but observe the coincidence in the timing of the four prosecutions, which effectively prevented Mr Khan from contesting the general election originally scheduled for November 2023.”
The working group said the appropriate remedy would be to release Imran immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations.
It has also called on the government to ensure a full and independent investigation of the circumstances surrounding the arbitrary deprivation of Imran’s liberty and to take appropriate measures against those responsible for the violation of his rights.
The working group has referred the case to the office of two UN special rapporteurs for appropriate action.
