Supporters have complained about the tiny prison cell in which Imran Khan is being held. Photo: X/Twitter
Photos of Imran Khan's cramped, windowless prison cell have sparked accusations that the Pakistani government is lying about his treatment in prison.
Supporters of the former prime minister have accused the Pakistani government of lying about his treatment in prison after photos emerged of the cramped cell he is being held in at home.
The government sent the photographs to the Supreme Court after Mr Khan, a politician and former cricketer jailed on corruption charges last August, complained that he was being held in solitary confinement. was in custody and did not have access to his lawyers.
Mr Khan and his supporters have long said the cases against him were politically motivated. He was acquitted earlier this week of charges of disclosing state secrets, but will remain in prison due to a conviction in an unrelated case.
Imran Khan, the former prime minister, was jailed on corruption charges in August last year. Photo: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
Mr Khan and his third wife Bushra Bibi, a healer, are serving prison sentences after a court ruled their 2018 marriage was un-Islamic and therefore illegal because it took place too early after her divorce.
“Khan is now being kept in this tiny jail cell without any conditions just to get married,” Mr Khan's party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said.
“As a former Prime Minister, Imran Khan is deprived of his basic human rights and basic opportunities to which he is entitled due to all this. History will remember this unprecedented fascism in Pakistan,” PTI added.
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Photos released by the government showed a small room with a simple bed, a desk and a bare concrete floor. There appeared to be no windows or natural light.
Zulfi Bukhari, a spokesman for Mr Khan, said that as a former prime minister, Mr Khan was entitled to a “class A cell” with an aide.
“Mr Khan has never complained about being kept in a facility without access to natural light or a window,” he told The Telegraph.
Even in prison, Mr Khan remains a powerful political force in Pakistan, and his supporters reacted with outrage to the images of the cell.
“It is absolutely shameful that someone should be forced to live in a 6×8 prison cell on a false charge,” said Sadia Mukhtar, a PTI supporter.
“Khan is a prince who used to live in castles and is now facing all the cruelty, atrocities, and barbarity for us. He is facing the situation with great determination. I want to tell him that the entire nation is indebted to him,” she said.
Hania Majid, another supporter of Khan, said: “This is unfair treatment for a leader who has served the nation tirelessly in all fields and not just as a politician. This isolation is seen as a tactic to break his spirit and limit his influence.”
She added: “Khan is my leader and I am proud of him,” she said.
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