ISLAMABAD: Pakistani opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif has sent a legal notice to British newspaper The Mail on Sunday and online news site Mail Online for publishing a “politically motivated” article against him alleging he had embezzled funds meant for earthquake victims, the law firm hired to pursue the case has said.
British tabloid Mail on Sunday said in a July 14 article that Sharif, the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, had embezzled funds provided by UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) for rehabilitation and reconstruction work after a devastating 2005 earthquake.
Carter-Ruck, a British law firm whose lawyers rank in the top tier of media, defamation and privacy lawyers in the United Kingdom, said in a statement quoted on Pakistani media that it would be representing Sharif.
“The article is gravely defamatory of Mr. Sharif, including false allegations that he misappropriated UK taxpayers’ money in the form of DFID aid intended for the victims of the devastating 2005 earthquake in Pakistan,” the firm’s statement said. “Mr. Sharif denies these allegations in the strongest possible terms.”
Sharif, who was the chief minister of Pakistan’s richest and most populous province of Punjab when the earthquake took place, said he was appalled to read the report that he “stole money from a fund for earthquake victims.”
“This appears to be yet another politically motivated campaign against me and my family by the current government of Pakistan,” Sharif said in a statement. “According to the article, it granted the journalist ‘exclusive access to some of the results of a high-level probe ordered by Khan’ including a ‘confidential investigation report’ and highly unusual access to ‘interview key witnesses held on remand in jail’.”
DFID has also rejected the contents of the article and said in a statement on July 14: “The UK’s financial support to ERRA [Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority] over this period was for payment by results – which means we only gave money once the agreed work, which was primarily focused on building schools, was completed, and the work audited and verified.”
Sharif, who is currently the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, faces a range of cases being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau, including one involving alleged corruption in a low-cost housing scheme called Aashyana, when Sharif was chief minister of Punjab province. He was arrested in the case last October but is currently out on bail.
Sharif is the brother of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who is serving a seven-year-sentence for graft. Nawaz Sharif has denounced corruption cases against him and his party’s leaders as politically motivated, and both brothers deny any wrongdoing.
Shehbaz Sharif sues UK’s Mail on Sunday for ‘politically motivated’ report
Shehbaz Sharif sues UK’s Mail on Sunday for ‘politically motivated’ report
- Will be represented by Carter-Ruck, one of Britain’s best law firms in the fields of litigation and dispute resolution
- British tabloid report on July 14 alleged Sharif had embezzled funds meant for victims of a 2005 earthquake
UN torture expert decries Pakistan ex-PM Khan’s detention
- Khan’s party alleges government is holding him in solitary confinement, barring prison visits
- Pakistan’s government rejects allegations former premier is being denied basic rights in prison
GENEVA: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan is being held in conditions that could amount to torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on torture warned Friday.
Alice Jill Edwards urged Pakistan to take immediate and effective action to address reports of the 73-year-old’s inhumane and undignified detention conditions.
“I call on Pakistani authorities to ensure that Khan’s conditions of detention fully comply with international norms and standards,” Edwards said in a statement.
“Since his transfer to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on September 26, 2023, Imran Khan has reportedly been held for excessive periods in solitary confinement, confined for 23 hours a day in his cell, and with highly restricted access to the outside world,” she said.
“His cell is reportedly under constant camera surveillance.”
Khan an all-rounder who captained Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup, upended Pakistani politics by becoming the prime minister in 2018.
Edwards said prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement is prohibited under international human rights law and constitutes a form of psychological torture when it lasts longer than 15 days.
“Khan’s solitary confinement should be lifted without delay. Not only is it an unlawful measure, extended isolation can bring about very harmful consequences for his physical and mental health,” she said.
UN special rapporteurs are independent experts mandated by the Human Rights Council. They do not, therefore, speak for the United Nations itself.
Initially a strong backer of the country’s powerful military leadership, Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in 2022, and has since been jailed on a slew of corruption charges that he denies.
He has accused the military of orchestrating his downfall and pursuing his Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and its allies.
Khan’s supporters say he is being denied prison visits from lawyers and family after a fiery social media post this month accusing army leader Field Marshal Asim Munir of persecuting him.
According to information Edwards has received, visits from Khan’s lawyers and relatives are frequently interrupted or ended prematurely, while he is held in a small cell lacking natural light and adequate ventilation.
“Anyone deprived of liberty must be treated with humanity and dignity,” the UN expert said.
“Detention conditions must reflect the individual’s age and health situation, including appropriate sleeping arrangements, climatic protection, adequate space, lighting, heating, and ventilation.”
Edwards has raised Khan’s situation with the Pakistani government.
