Published : 25 Aug 2026, 07:48 AM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:35 AM
British screenwriter and producer Jemima Goldsmith has urged the UK government to intervene over the treatment of her former husband, ex-Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan.
She called his prolonged detention and isolation a “human-rights emergency”.
In a statement on X, Goldsmith raised concerns over the physical and mental wellbeing of the 73-year-old former cricketer, who remains in custody at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
“How much longer will Britain remain silent?” she wrote, saying Khan had been “brutally penalised by his political opponents” in what she described as a personal vendetta by Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir. She cited the UN’s position that the treatment amounted to torture.
Goldsmith alleged Khan had endured prolonged solitary confinement without adequate access to legal representation, independent medical care or family communication.
Citing the UN Nelson Mandela Rules, she said solitary confinement beyond 15 consecutive days is prohibited and regarded as torture.
“He has endured this treatment not for 15 days, but for three years,” she said, alleging that Pakistani authorities had defied Supreme Court orders on his medical care, family visits and phone access.
She said their two sons, Sulaiman Isa Khan and Kasim Khan -- both British citizens, had been denied visits, visas and court-ordered phone calls with their father.
Goldsmith also highlighted Khan’s longstanding UK links, including his education at Oxford, cricket career and charitable work.
“Britain must... Demand that Pakistan comply with its own Supreme Court; restore Imran Khan's medical access, his right to see his family, end his prolonged isolation and uphold his fundamental human rights,” she said.
Khan, prime minister from 2018 to 2022, was ousted in a no-confidence vote and later jailed in corruption cases. His PTI party says the legal proceedings are politically motivated.
Goldsmith, who was married to Khan from 1995 to 2004, says her intervention is humanitarian and non-partisan.
