Minister denies ex-PM Khan claims, says he lives in ‘presidential suite’ inside Pakistani jail

Police personnel stand guard near a signboard reading ‘police check post Adiala’ at the entrance of Adiala jail after the hearing of Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Rawalpindi on January 31, 2024. (AFP/File)

• In an interview with a UK publication, Khan claimed he was ‘confined in a 7ft by 8ft death cell, typically reserved for terrorists’ and being denied basic rights
• Information Minister Ataullah Tarar says Khan has an exercise bicycle, a dedicated kitchen and holds three meetings weekly with his family, friends and aides

ISLAMABAD: Information Minister Ataullah Tarar on Sunday denied jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s claims that he was being denied basic prisoner rights in Pakistan, saying that the ex-premier’s “presidential suite” inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail was much better than several middle-class homes in the South Asian country.
Khan, 71, has been imprisoned at Adiala Jail since August last year. All four jail sentences he received ahead of a February national election in Pakistan have been overturned or suspended in recent weeks.
He remains in jail after authorities this month issued fresh arrest warrants for him in three cases linked to violence against the military and other state installations that erupted following his brief arrest in May 2023, according to his party.
In an interview with UK publication The Sunday Times this week, Khan claimed he was “confined in a 7ft by 8ft death cell, typically reserved for terrorists” and being denied “basic prisoner and human rights such as visitation.”
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, Tarar denied the claims and described Khan’s prison cell as the “presidential suite” of a five-star hotel, which offered a number of “amenities.”
“This convicted person (Khan) who is the ex-chairman of PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party), he lives in a presidential suite. He has an exercise bicycle at his disposal,” the information minister said.
“He has a walking gallery at his disposal, he has a kitchen at his disposal and he gives a proper, lavish menu of what he wants to eat in the entire day. He holds three meetings weekly with his lawyers, with his friends, family, with his political leaders.”
Tarar said these were not the things normally found inside prisons and that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-led government in Pakistan had never victimized its political opponents.
He criticized Khan for mistreatment of his political opponents during his tenure as the prime minister from 2018 till 2022.
“Mr Khan himself incarcerated people and put them in death cells, including women. And he was responsible and he used to openly state that ‘I will not let any medicine get through to them in the prison. I will not let them have home food, I will not let them meet people’,” the minister recounted.
“He used to state it very openly and now, he is having a lavish lifestyle inside the jail. Your presidential suite inside Adiala jail is better than several middle-class homes.”
Khan’s convictions had ruled the 71-year-old out of the Feb. 8 general election as convicted felons cannot run for public office under Pakistani law. Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says all cases against him are motivated to keep him out of politics.
An anti-terrorism court this month canceled his bail in one of the May 9, 2023 cases registered against him and thousands of his supporters. His PTI party called it a “gimmick” aimed at prolonging his imprisonment.