By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has appealed to Chief Justice Yahya Afridi in a letter from prison, alleging unlawful detention, persecution of his family, and suppression of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, as the country grapples with a deepening political rift.
The letter, dated Sept. 16 and titled “Denial of justice and fundamental rights — a call to the Supreme Court of Pakistan,” claims Khan has endured over 772 days of solitary confinement in a 9×11-foot cell. Facing more than 300 legal cases, which he called “fatuous and preposterous politically motivated” charges. “Pakistan has never witnessed what is being done to me, my family, and my supporters across the globe. All access to newspapers, books has been denied to me. Meetings with my lawyers and family are arbitrarily cancelled.”
The letter coincides with ongoing legal battles against Khan, his relatives, and PTI members, particularly over their alleged roles in violent protests on May 9, 2023, triggered by Khan’s arrest. The unrest in cities like Islamabad and Lahore prompted authorities to deploy armed forces. Khan, imprisoned since 2023 on charges including corruption and land fraud, faces separate trials related to the riots.
Khan claimed his detention was unlawful, describing it as “calculated psychological torture” to break his will and the spirit of Pakistan’s 251 million people. He called it an “assault on the Constitution, the rule of law, and the democratic future” of Pakistan.
Khan alleged his wife, Bushra Bibi, faced “inhumane and degrading treatment” in solitary confinement, denied medical care, television, books, and external contact. “Her health continues to deteriorate, yet her doctor is barred from examining her,” he wrote, noting Pakistani law grants women special bail concessions, which he said were withheld because she is his wife.
He also detailed the persecution of his family and PTI supporters. Khan claimed his nephew, Barrister Hassan Niazi, was detained by military authorities, subjected to “inhuman treatment,” and sentenced to 10 years in prison. His sisters and nephews, Shahrez and Shershah, faced imprisonment, which he called “unprecedented victimisation.” Khan further alleged PTI workers were “abducted, beaten, and subjected to military trials in flagrant violation of constitutional protections.”
Khan claimed PTI secured a “landslide victory” in the Feb. 8, 2024, election, but alleged the mandate was “stolen overnight, turning democracy into farce.” He cited a leaked 2024 Commonwealth report as evidence and criticized the 26th Constitutional Amendment for allegedly legitimizing electoral irregularities. Petitions challenging the amendment remain pending in the Supreme Court.
He urged Afridi to direct the Islamabad High Court’s chief justice to hear his petitions in the Al-Qadir Trust and Toshakhana cases, which he said were stalled. Referencing the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling on former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s unfair trial, Khan wrote: “Justice in its truest sense must happen in real time, pyrrhic justice occurs 44 years later.”
Khan requested immediate hearings for his pending petitions, telephonic contact with his sons as per jail rules, and medical access for his wife. He also called for restoring judicial independence, warning that Pakistan faced a “defining moment.”
“The courage of the verdicts you inscribe in the book of this nation’s destiny will go down in history,” he wrote. “I urge Your Lordship to uphold the oath of your office and show the people that the Supreme Court of Pakistan remains their final refuge of justice.”
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