Fact-check: UN Secretary-General calls Imran Khan’s arrest 'illegal'?

Neither has António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, nor has his spokesperson made any such comment about Pakistan’s former prime minister

Geo Fact-Check

Updated Tuesday Aug 15 2023

On August 5, police arrested Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan in the eastern city of Lahore after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts.

Soon after, posts began circulating online claiming that the United Nations Secretary-General had declared Khan’s arrest “illegal”.

The claim is false.

Claim

“Congratulations to all Pakistanis,” wrote a Facebook user on August 9, “The Secretary-General of the United Nations has declared Imran Khan's arrest and disqualification as illegal.”

This post had been shared over 100 times and liked 86 times, at the time of writing.

Another Facebook user also shared an identical claim.

The post was liked nearly 1,000 times on the social media platform.

Fact

Neither has António Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, nor has his spokesperson made any such comment about Pakistan’s former prime minister.

Guterres has not issued any statement about Imran Khan’s imprisonment after August 5.

There is, however, one statement that was issued by him the last time Khan was cuffed in May. Even then, the Secretary-General did not call the arrest “illegal”.

His statement can be viewed here.

Geo Fact Check has gone through the daily press briefings of the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General from August 5 to date.

In all the four pressers till now, the Secretary-General Office was asked about Imran Khan only once, on August 7. Again, the arrest was not referred to as “illegal”.

“Do you have any comments or observations about the arrest of Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, with the elections due in a matter of months?” a journalist had asked.

In response, the spokesperson said that the Secretary-General has been taking notes of the ongoing protests that have erupted following the arrest of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan.

“He [the Secretary-General] calls for all parties to refrain from violence,” the spokesperson added, “He stresses the need to respect the right to peaceful assembly. The Secretary-General urges the authorities to respect due process and the rule of law in proceedings brought against the former prime minister.”

Separately, Geo Fact Check reached out to Mahvash Haider Ali, the national information officer at the United Nations in Islamabad. She also shared the link to the August 7 press briefing and no other statement by the Secretary-General.