Calling Imran Khan a “political detainee” does not change a basic legal fact: he is a convicted prisoner under Pakistan’s laws after due court process.
In 2025, a special court sentenced Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 17 years in prison in the Toshakhana-2 case for illegally retaining and undervaluing state gifts, including a Bulgari jewelry set worth over Rs70 million.
He was also earlier sentenced to 10 years in the cipher case for mishandling state secrets along with other convictions in the original Toshakhana case.
Courts have convicted him while PTI sells a different story abroad
These are not executive orders or political detentions. These are court judgments under the Pakistan Penal Code and anti-corruption laws. Like any other citizen, Imran Khan has the right to appeal in higher courts and those appeals are ongoing.
But under the law, he remains a convicted prisoner not a political detainee. Rule of law does not become optional just because the accused is a former prime minister.
Yet, instead of fighting these cases mainly in courts, PTI has chosen to fight them in foreign capitals. Its lobbyists have been busy portraying court convictions as “repression” and legal accountability as “human rights abuse”.
This is narrative laundering: turning domestic legal cases into an international political campaign to pressure Pakistan from outside.
Lobbying, not human rights and the myth of isolation
PTI’s foreign outreach has focused heavily on sympathetic lawmakers in the US and Europe. Hearings at bodies like the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and lobbying through firms such as LGS, LLC and Fenton/Arlook have cost tens of thousands of dollars every month.
Figures like Mehlaqa Samdani and aligned groups operate less like neutral rights activists and more like political lobby fronts, pushing a single-point agenda centered only on Imran Khan.
There is also a large gap between the story sold abroad and the reality at home.
Imran Khan is regularly visited by family members, lawyers and senior PTI leaders. Jail records show multiple visitors every week. He continues to issue political directions, appoint party officials and influence party strategy from jail. This is not the picture of a man in total isolation.
At the same time, this so-called “human rights campaign” shows a striking silence on real humanitarian disasters. PTI-linked lobbying has been loud on one man’s legal troubles but almost absent on Gaza or Indian-occupied Kashmir. This selective concern exposes the political nature of the campaign.
Human rights advocacy loses its meaning when it becomes selective and partisan. Courts, not foreign lobbies, must decide legal cases. And convictions do not disappear simply because a political party does not like them.
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