Jemima Goldsmith Urges UK Government to Break Silence Over Imran Khan’s Imprisonment

LONDON: Jemima Goldsmith, the former wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan, has urged the British government to publicly take a position on what she described as the alleged mistreatment of Khan in prison.

In an open letter and appeal addressed to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, Goldsmith called on the UK to end its silence and take immediate action regarding Imran Khan’s reported treatment in detention.

In a statement posted on X, she said the father of her two sons and former prime minister of Pakistan had been subjected to severe political persecution for the past three years. She alleged that Khan had been kept in solitary confinement and referred to a United Nations report that she said classified such treatment as a form of torture.

Goldsmith cited the UN’s Nelson Mandela Rules, under which prolonged solitary confinement is prohibited and confinement exceeding 15 consecutive days is considered a form of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. She claimed that Imran Khan had faced such conditions for nearly three years.

Prime Minister @andyburnham and Foreign Secretary @Ed_Miliband : how much longer will Britain remain silent?

For three years the father of my two sons, and Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has been brutally penalised by his political opponents, in a personal…

— Jemima Goldsmith (@Jemima_Khan) August 24, 2026

She further alleged that his family had been denied access to him for around 10 months and that he had been restricted from receiving books and access to lawyers and doctors.

Goldsmith said Pakistan’s Supreme Court had intervened and ordered that the former prime minister receive comprehensive medical treatment, access to his personal doctors and telephone contact with his sons. She alleged that these court orders had repeatedly not been implemented.

She argued that the matter was no longer solely an internal political issue in Pakistan but had become an international human rights emergency.

Goldsmith also highlighted Imran Khan’s longstanding links with Britain and said their two sons, Sulaiman and Qasim, are British citizens. She said the children were thousands of miles away and were witnessing what she described as their father’s deteriorating health.

She urged the British government and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to abandon their traditional silence and publicly call for the implementation of Supreme Court orders, restoration of Imran Khan’s fundamental rights and an end to his alleged solitary confinement.