Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has said that they hope for the circumstances of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to change constructively.
“We [UN Secretary-General] want to see the current political situation, the current situation of Mr [Imran] Khan, evolve in a much more positive way,” Guterres’s spokesperson said while responding to a query raised during a daily press briefing on Tuesday.
Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder, has been in jail since last August and was convicted in some cases ahead of a national election in February. Neck-deep in myriad of other ongoing legal cases, Khan’s party claims the charges were politically motivated to thwart his return to power.
The question was: “The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) issued unanimously a recommendation to release Imran Khan, the former Pakistani prime minister, with no conditions. Does the SG support this recommendation?”
In recent months, courts have suspended Khan’s jail sentences in two cases involving the illegal acquisition and sale of state gifts and overturned his conviction on charges of leaking state secrets.
The UNWGAD stated in an opinion issued on Monday that Imran Khan’s detention was arbitrary and in violation of international law, adding that the jailed politician should be released immediately.
