Pakistan’s Khan in jail for 3 years: PTI rallies over ‘arbitrary detention’

Islamabad, Pakistan – As former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan marks three years in jail, his family, political party and a prominent international rights group have condemned his solitary detention and demanded a restoration of his constitutional rights.

Amid heavy security on Wednesday, thousands of members and supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party held demonstrations across the country to call for his immediate release.

Khan, 73, served as Pakistan’s premier from 2018 until April 2022 when he was removed in a no-confidence vote he alleged to be a military-enabled conspiracy hatched with the United States, an allegation both Washington and the military denied.

As Khan held rallies challenging his removal, he was first briefly arrested in May 2023 and later imprisoned on August 5 that year on several charges of corruption and revealing state secrets. He rejected the charges, calling them politically motivated.

Since then, the cricketer-turned-politician and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have been convicted in several cases while the authorities launched a crackdown on the PTI, arresting its top leaders and banning the party from contesting the 2024 general election.

Khan is currently serving a 14-year sentence for corruption while his wife was given seven years in the same case. In December, the couple was sentenced to an additional 17 years in prison in a case involving state gifts.

“Three years. Thousands of days behind prison walls. Endless attempts to break his spirit. Yet they have failed,” PTI posted on X on Wednesday.

“The struggle for democracy, constitutional rule, and the people’s right to choose their future does not end with arbitrary detentions,” it said as PTI members organised protests in several cities across Pakistan.