Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ordered former prime minister Imran Khan moved from prison to hospital, meeting a demand his party and family have pressed for more than a year over his deteriorating health.
A three-member bench ruled on Tuesday that Khan, 73, be transferred from Rawalpindi’s Adiala prison to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad within 48 hours, and that he remain there until a hearing on September 16.
Medical board and family access
The court directed that a medical board be formed in coordination with the hospital, comprising a physician, a general surgeon, an internal medicine specialist, an eye specialist and a cardiologist, to examine and treat him.
Khan’s sister, Dr Uzma Khan, and his personal physician, Dr Faisal Sultan, are to be permitted to remain associated with his examination and treatment — a central demand of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. The bench also ordered that his family be allowed to meet him at the hospital and that he be permitted to speak with his sons, who live abroad.
“It’s a very welcome order and we wish it had happened sooner so his eye and general health would not have deteriorated this much,” PTI’s Zulfikar Bukhari said, according to Reuters copy carried by Daily Mirror. “He should remain in hospital until all doctors are satisfied.”
Government adviser Rana Sanaullah said Khan had been receiving the best available medical treatment and that his condition did not warrant the party’s concerns, Al Jazeera reported.
Three years in prison
Khan has been held since August 2023 after convictions in a series of cases he says were politically driven following his removal in a 2022 no-confidence vote. His sons raised concerns about his health repeatedly last year, and his lawyers have said he lost significant vision in his right eye while in custody.
Some convictions have been suspended or overturned, with appeals pending. He denies wrongdoing.
PTI won power in 2018 and retains a large support base, but was stripped of its election symbol before the 2024 vote, forcing its candidates to run as independents. A party spokesman said preparations for a protest march planned for September 27 would continue regardless of the ruling.
