Victory for Khan appears unlikely. Former prime ministers Sir Tony Blair and Boris Johnson are also among the candidates to become the university’s chancellor

The Pakistani authorities have filed numerous cases against Khan since 2022 when he was removed from power through an army-backed vote of no-confidence in the parliament. Khan has been involved in over 150 legal cases, including charges of inciting violence, since his initial arrest in May 2023.

On July 13, a Pakistani court overturned the conviction and seven-year sentences of Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in a case relating to the legality of the couple’s 2018 marriage. However, officials swiftly filed new cases against him to prevent his release from prison.

On Tuesday, more than two dozen members of Parliament called for Khan’s immediate release during a hearing in the House of Lords Committee Room, discussing the erosion of democratic norms in Pakistan and the “illegal incarceration” of the former prime minister.

The hearing was jointly convened by Labour MP for Bradford West, Naz Shah, and Conservative Peer, Lord Hannan of Kingsclere.

The PTI said that a Pakistani dissident, Azhar Mashwani, and a close aide of Khan residing in the UK, was warned that his parents would be abducted if he attended the event. Mashwani was scheduled to speak at the House of Lords on Tuesday.

Since Khan’s imprisonment in August 2023, which the UN has described as having no legal basis, hundreds of his supporters have been arrested, and the government has indicated its intention to ban his party PTI.