International News

Pakistan's top court orders imprisoned former PM Imran Khan taken to hospital, allows family visits

AP Photo/Anjum Naveed

By MUNIR AHMED Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered authorities to take imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan to a private hospital in the capital for a medical examination, following months of concerns from his family and personal physicians about his health and access to medical care, his lawyers and party officials said.

A three-judge panel ordered that Khan be taken to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad in the coming days and examined by a medical board that will include specialists and one of his personal physicians, Faisal Sultan.

The court also ordered prison officials to allow Khan weekly meetings with family members and telephone calls with his sons. Khan's family has been struggling to secure access to him and have him examined by physicians of his choice.

Hours after the order, authorities allowed one of Khan's sisters to visit him. Pakistan had barred visitors earlier this year after receiving intelligence reports about a possible attack on the prison where he is being held.

The order came months after Khan petitioned the court, asking to be transferred from a high-security prison in the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi to a hospital and to be allowed access to his personal physicians, family and lawyers.

The court said the order was being issued because Khan's health was at stake and access to medical care is protected under Pakistan's constitution, according to Khan's lawyer Salman Akram Raja.

He urged Khan's supporters not to gather outside the hospital when the former premier is taken there, saying they should avoid inconveniencing other patients.

Earlier this year, Khan was repeatedly taken to a government hospital for treatment of an eye condition.

Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party welcomed the court ruling and called on authorities to implement it without delay, saying the order addressed longstanding concerns about his health and access to medical care.

However, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said in televised remarks that the government had reviewed the part of the order concerning Khan's medical treatment and would ask the court to seek a review of the decision. He said officials had also discussed other aspects of the ruling and questioned whether the order would apply to all prisoners with health problems, noting that many inmates have medical issues and are generally treated at government hospitals.

Concerns about Khan's health intensified in late January after his family said he had lost about 85% of the vision in his right eye, an assertion the government disputed. Authorities later said Khan regained about 70% of the vision in the eye and that his condition was improving.

The former cricket star turned politician has been in prison since 2023 after being convicted in a graft case. He was removed from office in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022. He has alleged that his ouster was the result of a U.S.-backed conspiracy involving political rivals and Pakistan's former army chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa -- allegations denied by Washington, Pakistan's military and his political opponents.

Despite his legal troubles, Khan remains a central figure in Pakistani politics and retains a large following.