Jemima Goldsmith says she received rape threats in rare intervention following Imran Khan’s imprisonment

Jemima Goldsmith has spoken out about the plight of her ex-husband Imran Khan, criticizing “serious and concerning developments” regarding Pakistan’s treatment of the jailed former prime minister and calling for his immediate release.

The film’s producer, who was married to Khan from 1995 to 2004 and has two sons with him, both British citizens, has raised concerns about Khan’s treatment in prison, accusing Shehbaz Sharif’s government of cutting off access to lawyers and family visits and even cutting off the electricity to his cell.

Khan has been detained at Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi, northern Pakistan, since 2023, after a court sentenced him to three years in prison in a corruption case. He faces some 150 charges in total, all of which his party says are politically motivated.

Ms Goldsmith raised her concerns in a series of posts on Twitter/X on Tuesday evening, in which she expressed her hesitation to speak out. “In recent years, I have been bullied and harassed into silence by PML-N (Pakistan’s ruling party) goons, including threats of rape and “countless conspiracy theories,” she wrote.

Ms Goldsmith said that as well as cutting off in-person visits in defiance of a court order, prison authorities have prevented Khan from weekly calls to his two sons, Sulaiman and Kasim, who live in London.

She said the electricity was cut off in his cell and he was not allowed out at any time, while the prison cook was put on leave.

“He is now completely isolated, in solitary confinement, literally in the dark, with no contact with the outside world,” she said, adding that his lawyers were concerned for his safety and well-being.

Ms Goldsmith’s comments echo concerns raised by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in recent days.

She made the allegations against the Pakistani government at a time when Islamabad is hosting a two-day SCO summit, attended by the rare participation of Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Pakistani police arrested dozens of Khan’s supporters and members of his PTI party who tried to demonstrate in the capital to demand his release.

Ms Goldsmith also accused the Pakistani government of detaining members of Khan’s family in an “attempt to silence them and all political opposition”.

Khan’s nephew, Hassan Niazi, has been in military detention since August 2023, while the cricketer’s sisters, Uzma and Aleema Khan, are being held in prison for defending their brother.

“I disagree with Imran Khan on many political issues. But this is not about politics: this is about the father of my children, his human rights and international law,” Ms Goldsmith said.

“I owe it to my children to try to make them aware of what is happening in Pakistan,” she added.

In July, a U.N. human rights committee called for Khan’s immediate release, saying he had been detained “arbitrarily in violation of international law.”

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said the legal proceedings against the former prime minister were part of a “much wider campaign of repression” against him and his party.

Khan was barred from running for political office and his party was barred from running in national elections earlier this year. From prison, he applied to become the next chancellor of Britain’s Oxford University.

The Pakistani government has denied allegations that Khan is being arbitrarily detained and has said it wants to completely ban his party, the PTI, accusing him of leading his supporters to engage in violent unrest targeting establishment-linked facilities military. It also accused him of foreign collusion and “treason” following his decision to dissolve Parliament in the final days of his government in 2022. He was ultimately ousted from power in a vote of no confidence.