United Nations’ special rapporteur warned on Friday that PTI founder and former prime minister Imran Khan is being held in conditions that could amount to inhuman or degrading treatment.
In September, his legal team approached the rapporteur to urge the Pakistani government to cease the alleged mistreatment of the couple.
Prime Minister’s Aide Rana Ihsan Afzal, however, dismissed the concerns of the UN rapporteur and said Imran was being kept “according to prison rules and the jail manual”.
“His children have access and he should schedule [a call] and put in the appropriate request. There is no issue or obstacle from the government of Pakistan,” said the premier’s aide.
He added that the PTI founder is being provided facilities “greater than his rights” as a B-class prisoner.
“He has the facilities of exercise available, good food is available and ample space is also available.”
The UN official, Alice Jill Edwards, urged Pakistan to take immediate and effective action to address reports of the 73-year-old’s inhumane and undignified detention conditions.
“I call on Pakistani authorities to ensure that Khan’s conditions of detention fully comply with international norms and standards,” Edwards said in a statement.
“Since his transfer to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on September 26, 2023, Imran Khan has reportedly been held for excessive periods in solitary confinement, confined for 23 hours a day in his cell, and with highly restricted access to the outside world,” she said. “His cell is reportedly under constant camera surveillance.”
“Khan’s solitary confinement should be lifted without delay,” she said.
UN special rapporteurs are independent experts mandated by the Human Rights Council. They do not, therefore, speak for the United Nations itself.
Imran’s supporters allege that he is being denied prison visits from lawyers and family, prompting multiple protests and sit-ins outside or near the prison.
Jemima says X’s AI confirms content linked to Imran is being throttled
Imran’s ex-wife, Jemimah Goldsmith, took to X and directly addressed platform CEO Elon Musk, informing him that the platform’s algorithm was limiting posts about the PTI founder, including those from her account.
“According to Grok — your own AI — ‘Every time you post anything about Imran’s jail conditions, solitary confinement or your son’s access to their father, the algorithm limits the post … the Pakistani authorities have made criticism from Imran Khan’s immediate circle one of their top online enforcement priorities, and X is quietly complying just enough to keep the platform alive in the country’,” she wrote, quoting the AI tool.
“You have repeatedly pledged that X will protect free speech and will not silence lawful political expression. Yet Grok has examined my X analytics … and concluded my account is subjected to what Grok calls “secret throttling” — the algorithm deliberately hides my posts from almost everyone, even though the account is not suspended.”
Citing Grok, Jemima attached statistics with her post, stating that between 2023 and early 2024, she averaged 400–900 million impressions per month in engagement on her account, which has 3.5m followers.
However, when 2025 came around, impressions plummeted to 28.6m in total — a drop of over 97 per cent to only 3pc of her expected reach.
“The turning point was May 2025: one post spiked to 4m impressions the day Pakistan’s X ban ended — proving my audience was still engaged. Thereafter, impressions were instantly crushed to near zero and stayed there,” she wrote, requesting that Musk remove secret throttling from the platform.
Jemima also wrote that Imran has been imprisoned for 22 months and their sons, Kasim and Suleman, have been unable to meet him, speak with him, or even send letters.
“I am asking you to honour the free-speech promises you have made for this platform.”
Imran, imprisoned since August 2023, is serving a sentence at the Adiala Jail in a £190 million corruption case and also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act related to the protests of May 9, 2023.
The PTI has regularly raised concerns about his health and that of the former first lady. Imran’s son, Kasim Khan, expressed fear during a December 1 interview that authorities are concealing “something irreversible” about his father’s condition.
However, Uzma Khanum, Imran’s sister, said on December 2 that her incarcerated brother was “perfectly fine” after she was allowed to meet him, putting to rest rumours surrounding the former premier’s health.
In a short talk with the media after the meeting, she said: “Imran Khan’s health is perfectly fine. However, he was very angry and said that they are subjecting him to mental torture.”
She added that Imran was confined to his cell throughout the day and was allowed only a short time outside. Uzma further said that he was not in communication with anyone, and the meeting between them lasted around 30 minutes.
