Jemima Goldsmith has called for the release of incarcerated former husband Imran Khan’s release amid concerns over his health at the Adiala Jail cell.
“In the last few weeks there have been serious and concerning developments regarding my sons’ father, Imran Khan’s treatment in prison,” she said in a long post on X, erstwhile Twitter, on Tuesday.
This came as doctors were allowed to meet the PTI founder at Adiala jail after his party complained that the incarcerated leader was facing health-related issues. The government’s assurances to the party on Khan’s medical examination led to the postponement of the PTI protest today (Tuesday) when leaders arrived in Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.
But sources within the jail told Aaj News that Dr Aasim Yusuf, the personal physician of incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, exited the Adiala Jail without examining him.
Dr Aasim was unable to present his identification to the jail staff. The security personnel requested a card from the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centres, which he could not provide.
After this setback, the doctor exited the jail premises without notifying the staff of his departure.
According to Jemima, the authorities have stopped all visits to him by his family and his lawyers. They have also postponed all court hearings. In addition to cutting off in-person visits and in defiance of a court order, she said that his weekly calls to his sons, Sulaiman and Kasim Khan, who are British and who live in London, were stopped on September 10.
“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,” the filmmaker said.
She alleged that such actions come in the context of the ongoing targeting of Khan’s family, as well as his party members and supporters in an attempt to silence them and all political opposition in Pakistan.
Jemima claimed that Khan’s nephew, Hassan Niazi, has been detained in military custody since August 2023. More recently, his sisters, Uzma and Aleema Khan, who have continued to speak out on his behalf, have also been arrested as they made their way “peacefully to a demonstration and they are currently being held in jail, despite there being no proper or lawful basis for their imprisonment.”
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In June this year, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Khan “is unlawfully and arbitrarily detained” and called for his release.
“As a matter of urgency, we are calling for Imran Khan’s release, and for the release of his sisters and nephew as well as for his sons’ contact with their father to be re-established, so that they may have assurance first-hand that he is well and not being mistreated,” Jemima said.
Later in the evening, PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan said that Khan was in “good health and had exercised for an hour today [Tuesday].”
In a social media post, he said: “Today at about 4pm two doctors – an ENT specialist and a medical specialist visited Khan sab at Adiyala jail. We were informed a while ago that Alhamdulillah, Khan Saab is in good health and had exercised for an hour today. We shall get medical reports from them soon and I will share [them] with you, InshaAllah.”
In reaction to the Khan’s ex-wife post, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif claimed that the former prime minister has been extended “far more humanity” than he ever exhibited for his opponents.
“Mian Nawaz Sharif was not allowed so much as a phone call to talk with his dying wife, to say nothing of the scores of other opposition members jailed - without charges - at the time,” he said.
In another post, Jemima said that she avoided speaking on Pakistani politics and even disagreed with her ex-husband on many political issues.
“But this is not about politics- it’s about my children’s father, his human rights & international law,” she said and claimed that for the past few years, she has been bullied and harassed into silence by “PML-N goons, including rape threats & countless conspiracy theories.”
She went on to speak about the crackdown on PTI, saying that Khan’s photo and name have been censored on state television. Jemima alleged that Khan’s image was even redacted from any coverage of Pakistan’s World Cup win in 1992.
“I owe it to my children to try to create some awareness about what is happening in Pakistan. Please help in any way that you can.”
