‘Ensure Imran Khan, wife are not kept in solitary confinement’:Pak HC directs jail authorities to facilitate meetings between them under prison rules

A Pakistan high court on Tuesday directed jail authorities to ensure that former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are not kept in solitary confinement. The 73-year-old cricketer-turned-politician and his wife are currently detained at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, serving lengthy prison sentences in corruption and related cases. The court also directed that Khan’s family members be allowed to meet him as permitted under jail rules and ordered authorities to make arrangements for telephone conversations between him and his sons.
The IHC directed the Adiala jail authorities to provide Khan with newspapers and books daily and ensure that he receives medical facilities in accordance with jail rules. The Adiala jail superintendent was directed to ensure implementation of the court’s directions and submit a compliance report within 15 days. The order was delivered by Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Justice Khadim Hussain Soom, who announced the verdict while holding the petitions challenging the alleged solitary confinement of Khan and Bibi as maintainable. Second major decision regarding Imran’s jail term
Justice Soomro had earlier reserved the verdict on August 6 on petitions, filed separately by Khan’s sister Aleema Khanum and Bibi’s daughter Mubashra Khawar Maneka, challenging their alleged solitary confinement. Khan has remained in prison since August 2023 following convictions that he and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party have described as politically motivated. His supporters and relatives have repeatedly alleged that authorities have restricted his access to family members and adequate medical care. The government has rejected such allegations.
His wife was first jailed on January 31, 2024, after her conviction in a corruption-related case, and was released on bail on October 24 that year.
She was re-arrested on January 17, 2025, following her conviction in another corruption-related case and remains detained at Adiala Jail, having since received additional sentences in corruption-related cases. Former cricketers had urged Pakistan to treat Imran Khan properly Earlier, the former Australian captain Greg Chappell, along with 20 other former international captains, had written a letter to the Pakistan government. In the letter, they demanded proper medical treatment for Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan. The letter, written to the Shahbaz Sharif government on 23 August, urged humane treatment for Imran Khan. It also demanded that Imran’s independent medical examination be completed as per the Supreme Court’s order. Imran Khan’s death controversy The whereabouts of the former Pakistani PM were also unknown for a short time. Earlier, Qasim Khan, son of Imran Khan, had alleged that his father had been killed and had been kept alone in a death cell for six weeks. Additionally, his sisters were blocked from meeting him despite court orders.