Call for due process, humane treatment, and independent medical access for Imran Khan

Dear Members of the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET),

I am writing as part of a Pakistani diaspora collective, bringing together overseas Pakistanis and civil society advocates concerned by the severe deterioration of human rights, democratic freedoms, judicial independence, and transnational repression linked to Pakistan.

The current situation is no longer merely concerning; it is unacceptable. Despite repeated warnings from United Nations mechanisms, human rights organisations, Members of the European Parliament, and international observers, conditions continue to deteriorate while those with responsibility face no meaningful consequences.

International Concern Regarding the Arbitrary Detention of Imran Khan and Political Prisoners

In August 2024, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that the detention of former Prime Minister Imran Khan is arbitrary and called for his immediate release. Amnesty International has likewise stated that he is being detained in violation of international legal standards and has called for his release.

See: https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/issues/detention-wg/opinions/session99/a-hrc-wgad-2024-22-pakistan-aev.pdf

and: Pakistan: Authorities Must Immediately Release Imran Khan From Arbitrary Detention - Amnesty International

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a global organisation of parliaments from 183 member states, released findings from its 217th Session review of Pakistan in April 2026 documenting serious concern regarding the health and detention conditions of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and other incarcerated parliamentarians including Mrs Aliya Hamza and Mr Ejaz Choudhary. The IPU stated it was now “convinced” that an on-site mission to Pakistan is required to independently assess detention conditions given the major discrepancy between official state claims and witness testimony, prisoner accounts, and documentation from organisations including the United Nations and Amnesty International.

See: https://www.ipu.org/sites/default/files/documents/pakistan_-_e_2.pdf

Urgent Humanitarian and Medical Concerns Regarding Imran Khan

It has recently been reported before the courts by Barrister Salman Safdar, and confirmed by a state hospital, that Mr Khan has suffered major loss of vision of 85% in one eye - making him effectively blind in this eye. There is ongoing severe concern regarding his health since he is being held in solitary confinement and incommunicado, other than isolated infrequent visits from a lawyer whenever the state decides. Despite an order of the High Court permitting weekly meetings of Imran Khan with his family, his family have been denied meetings for the past six months and his sisters have been physically assaulted and water cannoned by the state during peaceful sit-ins outside of the prison on their allocated meeting days.

Mr Khan has effectively been subjected to prolonged solitary confinement approaching three years this August, far exceeding the 15-day maximum threshold identified under the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (“the Mandela Rules”), amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

See: https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison-reform/mandela-rules.html

This situation is now an urgent humanitarian and medical concern. With temperatures in parts of Pakistan expected to approach or exceed 50°C in the coming months, continued detention without adequate medical care, cooling facilities, independent clinical oversight, or meaningful outside contact places both Imran Khan’s life and health in imminent danger.

It is simply not acceptable for any state receiving substantial international support and preferential economic treatment to ignore such serious international concerns.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr Alice J. Edwards, has publicly raised concerns regarding Mr Khan’s detention conditions in December 2025 and about the potential effects of this inhumane treatment on Imran Khan’s mental and physical health. Following this, after Imran Khan lost his vision in one eye, she publicly stated that she had not received a response from the Government of Pakistan following communications sent regarding her concern, stating that solitary confinement must be lifted without delay.

See: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/12/pakistan-imran-khans-solitary-confinement-and-inhumane-detention-conditions

Urgent Humanitarian Concerns Regarding Bushra Bibi

There are also extremely serious concerns regarding Bushra Bibi, including prolonged arbitrary detention in solitary confinement like Mr Khan, denial of meaningful access to family members, lawyers, independent medical care, and fair trial guarantees.

Reports presented before international mechanisms and civil society submissions have raised concerns regarding prolonged incommunicado detention and degrading custodial conditions. Alarmingly, she too has suffered loss of vision in one eye due to medical neglect, which is abhorrent and requires immediate independent medical intervention and follow-up.

When she was eventually taken to hospital for an emergency eye surgery, she was discharged and sent back to an overheated, under-ventilated, rat- and insect-infested cell without hospital stay for post-operative care or meaningful health checks. This cycle was then repeated with another emergency eye procedure and the same absence of post-operative care this month.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr Alice J. Edwards, has also raised concerns specifically regarding the detention conditions of Bushra Bibi. In formal communications and subsequent public statements, the Special Rapporteur warned that the conditions of detention, including prolonged isolation, extreme heat, inadequate ventilation, denial of meaningful human contact, inadequate medical care, and degrading custodial conditions, could amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under international law and described feeling disturbed by her findings.

See: https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=30614

and: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/12/pakistan-un-expert-raises-alarm-over-substandard-detention-conditions-bushra

Urgent Concern Regarding Custodial Deaths of Political Detainees

There is also growing alarm regarding custodial deaths and deaths shortly following release linked to the ongoing political crackdown. Since 2023, multiple political detainees and prisoners have died either in custody or shortly after release amid persistent allegations of torture, medical neglect, denial of treatment, and abusive detention conditions. These cases have intensified concerns regarding impunity, prison oversight, and the treatment of political prisoners in Pakistan, further underscoring the urgent need for independent international scrutiny and accountability. Civil society organisations and diaspora groups have documented at least twelve such cases since 2023.

UN Committee Against Torture Findings

These developments align closely with the findings of the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) during its 84th Session review of Pakistan in April 2026.

In paragraphs 32–35 of its concluding observations published on 1 May 2026, the Committee expressed serious concern regarding politically motivated prosecutions, arbitrary detention, intimidation of political opponents, military trials of civilians, reprisals against journalists and activists, and allegations of torture and ill-treatment.

The Committee specifically referenced the cases of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Imran Khan (Bushra Bibi), raising concern regarding reports of inadequate medical care and detention conditions. UNCAT called on Pakistan to ensure effective safeguards against torture and ill-treatment, including prompt access to independent medical care, legal counsel, fair trial protections, and protection against arbitrary detention.

See: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CAT%2FC%2FPAK%2FCO%2F2&Lang=En&utm_source=chatgpt.com

Broader Pattern of Democratic Backsliding and Repression

The concerns surrounding the detention and treatment of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi form part of a much broader pattern of democratic backsliding and repression in Pakistan. International observers and human rights organisations have raised serious concerns regarding military trials of civilians, intimidation of political opponents, transnational repression directed at critics and journalists abroad, restrictions on media freedom, and the growing use of legislation such as the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) to criminalise dissent and criticism of state institutions. There has also been widespread concern regarding constitutional amendments and legal developments viewed as undermining judicial independence, democratic accountability, and separation of powers.

Democratic legitimacy cannot exist where opposition leaders remain imprisoned, civilians are tried in military courts, media freedoms are curtailed, judicial independence is weakened, and meaningful political participation is obstructed.

EU GSP+ Obligations and Compliance

These concerns are directly relevant to Pakistan’s obligations under the European Union’s GSP+ trade framework. Pakistan benefits significantly from preferential access to EU markets under GSP+ status, which is conditional upon effective implementation of core international conventions relating to human rights, rule of law, labour protections, and democratic governance.

See: https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/development-and-sustainability/generalised-scheme-preferences_en

Numerous Members of the European Parliament have already expressed concern regarding Pakistan’s compliance with these obligations, including concerns regarding military trials of civilians, arbitrary detention, freedom of expression, and judicial independence. Yet despite repeated warnings, meaningful enforcement action has not followed.

As a diaspora, we have registered our protest through the media, local and international members of Parliament, in large gatherings globally, through advocacy with international bodies such as the UN, and in online petitions such as the following petition directed to the EU, which has so far received over 117,000 signatures.

See: https://www.change.org/p/demand-for-immediate-publication-of-the-eu-election-observation-report-on-pakistan-s-2024-c4b7a0c3-7414-4c50-ac7f-b63a9f43d0f4

All of the above is increasingly viewed by the global Pakistani diaspora and human rights organisations as completely unacceptable. The continued extension of economic and diplomatic privileges without meaningful accountability risks undermining the credibility of the EU’s own human rights framework and conditionality mechanisms.

Call for Action to the European Union

We therefore respectfully urge the European Union and its Member States to:

Diaspora communities across Europe and the world are increasingly mobilising to strongly protest with parliamentarians, civil society organisations, media institutions, and international bodies regarding these developments. Continued inaction is coming at a cost of lives and the future of hundreds of millions.

Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s lives are at immediate risk. This is not a partisan matter. It is a matter of human life and dignity, democratic integrity, rule of law, and compliance with international obligations.

I await your urgent and immediate attention to, and action regarding, these concerning and unacceptable realities.

Thank you for your time.

Yours sincerely,