Former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, is arbitrarily imprisoned, in violation of international law, a U.N. human rights working group said Monday.
The Geneva-based U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that 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."
In January, a Pakistani court sentenced Khan and his wife to 14 years in prison for corruption, a day after another special court handed him a 10-year prison sentence for leaking state secrets.
The court also disqualified Khan for years from holding any public office, ahead of Pakistan's Feb. 8 parliamentary elections. Khan's lawyer Babar Awan said the former prime minister was convicted and sentenced in such a hurry that the judge did not wait for the arrival of his legal team.
Khan was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022. Despite his conviction and sentencing, he remains popular and is currently serving time on a corruption conviction and has multiple other legal cases hanging over him.
