ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday reserved its verdict on the maintainability of petitions challenging the alleged solitary confinement of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in Adiala Jail following their conviction in the £190 million corruption case.
A single-member bench comprising Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro heard petitions filed by Imran’s sister Aleema Khan and Bushra’s daughter Mubashra Khawar Maneka.
During the hearing, Justice Soomro observed that the sentences handed down by the accountability courts in the £190 million and Toshakhana-I cases do not provide for solitary confinement.
“I have examined both sentences. There is no solitary confinement punishment. We will first decide whether these requests are sustainable. If they are considered sustainable, notifications will be sent to the prison authorities requesting their response,” the judge commented.
The petitioners’ lawyer, Advocate Salman Safdar, argued that the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi had been kept in solitary confinement for several months, in violation of prison rules and international standards, particularly the Nelson Mandela Rules.
He told the court that previous petitions had referred to solitary confinement only as background and had not specifically requested its termination. Safdar claimed that Bushra had not been allowed visitors for the past seven months.
He said that after meeting Imran pursuant to a court order, it emerged that he was kept in solitary confinement for about 22 hours a day, while Bushra was allegedly confined for 24 hours a day.
The lawyer further stated that the PTI founder was 74 years old, had lost vision in one eye and that both he and Bushra Bibi had undergone eye surgeries but were still being held in solitary confinement.
He added that although he had been allowed to meet the PTI founder under a court order, he had not been granted permission to meet Bushra Bibi for the past seven months.
NAB Prosecutor Rafi Maqsood objected to the petitions, arguing that Aleema Khan and Mubashra Khawar Maneka were not aggrieved parties and therefore lacked legal standing to file the petitions.
He told the court that the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi were not held in solitary confinement and that matters relating to convicted prisoners were governed by prison rules. He maintained that the petitioners had not approached the prison authorities before filing the constitutional petitions.
In rebuttal, Safdar argued that if the government denied the allegations of solitary confinement, the court could summon the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi to determine the facts directly from them.
