UN body declares PTI founder’s detention as ‘violation of international laws’

ISLAMABAD (92 News) - A group of independent experts from the United Nations has declared the detention of the PTI founder as violation of the international laws, saying his imprisonment is arbitrary.

The Geneva-based Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which reports to the UN Human Rights Council, published the opinion, saying that Pakistani authorities have ‘no legal basis’ for PTI founder’s detention.

The petition against the arrest of the PTI founder was filed by Zulfi Bukhari, demanding he should be released immediately. The UN body pointed out that the imprisonment of the PTI founder violated at least a dozen articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“The Working Group requests the government of Pakistan to take the steps necessary to remedy the situation of the PTI founder without delay and bring it into conformity with the relevant international norms,” it said.

The UN group determined that the prosecution was not grounded in law from the outset, and that PTI founder’s unlawful detention ‘appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office.’

The opinion was dated March 25 but made public only Monday. The experts concluded that ‘the appropriate remedy would be to release the PTI founder immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations.”