Islamabad

US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for presidential envoy for special missions, Richard Grenell, has reiterated his support for releasing imprisoned former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan.

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A day after his appointment, Grenell took to X to share a news article by a Pakistani news outlet regarding his new role and wrote, “I’ll say it again. Free Imran Khan.” Grenell earlier voiced his support for Khan’s freedom in November, writing “Release Imran Khan” on his X account during Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) do-or-die protests in Islamabad.

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Khan’s legal troubles

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Khan remains in jail for over 1.5 years now. He was first detained in May 2023 in connection with a case that his wife Bushra Bibi received land worth up to 7 billion rupees ($25 million) as a bribe through a trust created in 2018. The former PM is also facing terrorism charges in connection with the violence that followed his arrest in May last year. Earlier, the PTI founder faced allegations of making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan's ambassador in Washington in 2022.

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Khan maintained that the US administration of President Joe Biden played a role in his ouster, citing the 2022 cipher linked with the US diplomat Donald Lu. Experts believe Khan shared good ties with Trump during his tenure as the US president and held several meetings with him, including at the White House.

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Khan’s PTI party is now counting on the support from the Republican party and the Trump team to get their leader out of jail. Apart from support from Grenell, the PTI has also managed to gather backing from other high-profile leaders in Washington DC.

Previously, a number of US senators had written a letter, calling on Islamabad to release Khan and act on human rights abuses in the South Asian country.

Pakistan downplays comments

Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has tried to downplay the comments made by Grenell in support of Khan. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said his government was not expecting Grenell’s remarks to have any “repercussions”.

“I don’t think there is any pressure involved,” Asif said in an interview.

(With inputs from agencies)