ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered the administration of Central Prison Rawalpindi to produce jailed former prime minister Imran Khan by 3 p.m. to facilitate a meeting with his lawyers, as his wife Bushra Bibi was released after securing bail a day earlier.

The development follows Khan’s legal team moving the court, complaining that prison officials were preventing them and the ex-premier’s family from meeting him. Khan has been imprisoned for over a year, facing various charges, including corruption and sedition.

Currently, he is incarcerated in the state repository case, involving the possession of a jewelry set comprising a ring, bracelet, necklace and earrings gifted to his wife by a foreign dignitary. The couple allegedly undervalued the set and retained it at a lower price.

Bibi was released from jail after spending 265 days in the same case after the IHC granted her bail on Wednesday.

“Bring Imran Khan to Islamabad High Court at 3 PM to arrange his meeting with his lawyers,” Justice Ijaz Ishaq Khan remarked during the hearing. “I know you won’t implement my orders, but let me issue directions.”

The judge’s remark came amid an ongoing tussle between the executive and the judiciary, with the latter accusing the country’s powerful military and intelligence agencies of exerting pressure to secure favorable verdicts in political cases, particularly those involving Khan.

The military and intelligence agencies have denied these allegations, maintaining that they do not interfere in political matters.

Khan has not physically appeared in a court since August last year, with all hearings being held in the high-security Rawalpindi prison due to security concerns.

For the last two weeks, the Punjab government has banned all meetings with Khan and other prisoners in the jail, citing security reasons.

“A contempt of court petition was filed by the legal team after the jail administration, following Punjab government orders, banned meetings with Imran Khan, defying clear instructions from the court of Justice Ijaz Ishaq to arrange a meeting via video link if otherwise not possible,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a statement.

Khan’s legal team has struggled to secure his release, arguing that all charges against him are fabricated to keep him out of politics.

The PTI also confirmed that a bail bond for his wife was submitted in the court earlier in the day, leading to her release in the afternoon.

• This article originally appeared on Arab News Pakistan

LONDON: The EU’s coast guard agency, Frontex, should use its reconnaissance capabilities to help rescue refugee vessels in the Mediterranean, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

HRW launched a new campaign, #WithHumanity, calling on Frontex to help save the lives of thousands of people making the perilous journey to Europe.

Over the past decade, more than 30,500 people have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean, and this year at least 1,600 have been recorded dead or missing alone.

Judith Sunderland, HRW’s associate Europe and Central Asia director, said: “Frontex planes and drones should use their eyes on the Mediterranean Sea to save lives. With thousands dying in the Mediterranean every year, it’s vital for Frontex to do all it can to help ensure that people on unseaworthy boats are rescued and brought to safety.”

Coordination issues between Frontex, national coast guards in Europe and NGOs must be resolved, HRW said.

“By focusing on the aspirations of people taking these dangerous journeys, we hope that people across Europe will join us in urging Frontex to prioritize saving lives at sea,” Sunderland said.

“Europe’s coast guard should uphold EU and international law and our shared commitment to humanity and the protection of life.”

As it stands, when Frontex staff sight refugee vessels in the Mediterranean using aircraft, it informs rescue centers in EU member states as well as Libya and Tunisia.

But nearby NGO rescue ships are often left out of the communication loop, as are nearby vessels, which HRW said should receive emergency alerts.

In many cases, Libyan and Tunisian forces have received alerts and interdicted the refugee vessels, returning passengers to countries where they “face serious human rights abuses.”

A 2022 report by HRW found that Frontex’s decisions make the agency complicit in abusive and indefinite arbitrary detention practices in Libya.

Last month, 11 people rescued from Libya on the Medecins Sans Frontieres ship Geo Barents were interviewed by HRW.

All had suffered abuse — including claims of sexual violence, forced labor and physical assault — while in Libyan detention centers or smuggler captivity.

The Pylos shipwreck in 2023 “demonstrated the fatal consequences” of failing to respond appropriately to refugee vessels, HRW said.

More than 600 people died after the severely overcrowded ship capsized in Greece’s search-and-rescue region.

Frontex informed coastal authorities but failed to issue an emergency alert to nearby ships on the basis that there was no “imminent risk of loss of life.”

NGO rescue staff told HRW that Frontex coordination can prove crucial to saving the lives of refugees.

Last October, Geo Barents performed a nighttime rescue, saving 64 people including women and children, after receiving the coordinates of an overcrowded raft in the Mediterranean.

Fulvia Conte, MSF’s search-and-rescue team leader, said: “To have precise coordinates, taken from the sky, with a thermal camera, of course it helps when searching for a boat.”

Frontex must ensure that the locations of vessels in distress are automatically transmitted to NGO rescue ships in the vicinity, HRW said.

“Through the #WithHumanity campaign, Human Rights Watch is asking the public to take a closer look at the lives and rights at risk in the Mediterranean Sea and their shared humanity with those making the crossing, and to demand action by the responsible authorities,” the organization added.