The country’s Supreme Court ordered that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan be moved to hospital for medical checks, after a petition by his lawyers over claims of poor health.
Justice Shahid Waheed said 73-year-old Imran, who has been in jail since 2023 on corruption charges, will be shifted in the next two days to Shifa International hospital in the capital Islamabad,.
Imran and his wife and spiritual guide Bushra Bibi were both sentenced late last year to 17 years behind bars.
There was no immediate information about the details of Imran’s health concerns included in his lawyers’ petition.
He received eye treatment at a hospital this year, with his family and lawyer saying at the time that he had lost most of the vision in his right eye.
Secretary-general Salman Akram Raja of Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) told media outside the court, in a video shared on Facebook, that yesterday’s ruling was “a major step, a major decision, a great blessing”.
He called on the supporters of the ex-cricket captain – who remains Pakistan’s dominant political personality – to abide by his party’s agreement with the court that there “must not be any crowding or commotion”.
Imran was prime minister from 2018 to 2022 before being removed in a no-confidence vote during a political crisis over tensions between his government and the South Asian country’s powerful military establishment.
He has since faced multiple legal cases on corruption and other charges, which Imran and the PTI maintain are politically motivated. His arrest triggered nationwide protests in May 2023, some of which turned violent and led to hundreds of arrests. — AFP
