The former wife of Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Jemima Goldsmith, has made some grave accusations against the Shehbaz Sharif-led government.
She said that her ex-husband was being kept in solitary confinement, that the authorities had turned off the power supply in his jail cell, and that he was no longer permitted to call his children once a week.
Goldsmith, who was married to Imran Khan from 1995 to 2004, said in a social media post on Tuesday that the Pakistan government had halted all judicial proceedings and entirely halted visits from the former prime minister’s friends and family.
Goldsmith’s accusations coincide with the Pakistan government’s hosting of the two-day SCO Summit in Islamabad, which has transformed the nation’s capital into a fortress and drawn prominent figures from member nations, including External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar of India.
Authorities also detained hundreds of Imran Khan’s supporters who tried to march in Islamabad in the days before the summit, calling for his release.
“In addition to cutting off in-person visits, and in defiance of a court order, his weekly calls to his sons, Sulaiman and Kasim Khan, who are British and who live in London, were stopped on September 10,” she said.
After being arrested on August 5, 2023, Khan is currently being held at the Adilala Jail in Rawalpindi.
“We have received reports that the authorities have now turned off the lights and electricity in his cell and he is no longer allowed to leave his cell at any time. The jail cook has been sent on leave. He is now completely isolated, in solitary confinement, literally in the dark, with no contact with the outside world. His lawyers are concerned about his safety and well-being,” she added.
In addition, Goldsmith said that Imran Khan and other members of his family were being mistreated by the government in an “attempt to silence them and all political opposition”.
The 72-year-old was Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022 when he lost a no-confidence motion in parliament due to disagreements with the influential military establishment, which is seen as the country’s political kingmakers.
He is presently involved in many court cases, many of which result in convictions.
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