Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was returned to prison on Friday after a short medical examination at a government hospital in Islamabad, officials said. The 73-year-old opposition leader had been moved overnight from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail under a Supreme Court directive issued earlier in the week.
Khan was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences rather than the privately run Shifa International Hospital that had been the expected destination. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the change followed a security situation involving supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Hundreds of police and paramilitary officers had already been deployed around Shifa ahead of a possible arrival.
A team that included a cardiologist, an ophthalmologist and a physician examined Khan and found him medically fit, Tarar said. Khan’s sister, Uzma Khan, was present throughout the visit. The transfer followed a Tuesday Supreme Court order giving authorities two days to move him to hospital for review by an independent medical board that was to include his personal physician.
A specialised medical team examined Khan and declared him medically fit, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said.
The court acted after a jail superintendent’s report described fluctuating blood pressure and anxiety that officials linked to restricted contact with Khan’s family. Relatives and his party have repeatedly asked courts over the past year to address health concerns, particularly vision in his right eye. Similar requests were declined twice since February, with the Islamabad High Court ordering a medical-board assessment instead.
Khan has been imprisoned since August 2023, when he was convicted in a case involving the sale of state gifts, charges he has denied. He left office in April 2022 after losing a parliamentary no-confidence vote. He and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have since been convicted in additional cases and maintain that the prosecutions are politically motivated.
