By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court ruled on Tuesday that petitions alleging former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were being held in solitary confinement at Adiala jail could proceed, and ordered prison officials to ensure neither is kept in isolation going forward.
Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro, delivering a verdict that had been under consideration since Aug. 6, found the petitions maintainable, citing legal precedent from the Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Begum Shamim Afridi cases. Those rulings have long served as a benchmark in Pakistani courts for challenges to detention conditions.
The petitions were brought by Aleema Khan, Khan’s sister, and Mubashra Khawar Maneka, Bushra Bibi’s daughter, who argued that the couple had endured prolonged isolation since Khan’s imprisonment.
Khan, 73, has been jailed since August 2023 on a series of convictions that he and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, have long characterized as politically engineered. He was removed from office in April 2022 after losing a no-confidence vote in Parliament, and has since faced a cascade of legal proceedings.
Tuesday’s ruling grants several concessions long sought by Khan’s family. The court directed jail authorities to arrange a meeting between Khan and Bushra Bibi, to permit visits from Khan’s relatives under standard prison rules, and to establish phone calls between Khan and his sons. That last provision comes with a caveat: the court said the calls should be discontinued if recordings of the conversations are found to be used for political purposes.
Justice Soomro also ordered that Khan receive daily newspapers and books, along with medical care in keeping with prison regulations. The court specifically instructed the Adiala jail superintendent to guarantee that Bushra Bibi is not held in solitary confinement, and to file a report documenting compliance within 15 days.
The ruling followed weeks of pointed disagreement in court over the conditions of Khan’s confinement. Barrister Salman Safdar, representing the petitioners, told the court the restrictions placed on his clients amounted to sustained isolation and psychological distress, and said Khan’s access to lawyers, relatives and reading material had been curtailed. He asked the court to mandate regular family visits and weekly calls with Khan’s sons.
Government attorneys pushed back forcefully. The advocate general told the court Khan was kept separately from other prisoners because of security risks tied to his political standing, not as punishment, and said he receives amenities beyond what is typically afforded to B-class inmates — a designation reserved for prisoners deemed to hold higher social status. Adiala Jail Superintendent Sajid Baig testified that Khan is not confined to a single cell throughout the day, telling the court he has access to a seven-cell compound where he can move freely during daylight hours. Officials offered a similar explanation for Bushra Bibi’s separate housing, attributing it to security considerations rather than punitive isolation.
The dispute escalated last week after a television interview with Khan’s sons aired during a Test cricket match between Pakistan and England. In response, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information issued a lengthy statement, circulated on social media and distributed to foreign news outlets, denying that Khan was being subjected to what it called “punitive solitary confinement, cruelty or deprivation.” The ministry said Khan continues to receive visits, phone calls, reading materials and home-cooked meals. It emphasised that Khan is “not a person held under executive detention,” noting he was convicted through judicial proceedings and “remains entitled to pursue all remedies available to him under Pakistani law.” PTI officials rejected the ministry’s account as “misleading, fabricated and incorrect.”
The court’s order arrives roughly two weeks after a separate, high-profile dispute over Khan’s medical care. In an Aug. 18 ruling, the Supreme Court had directed authorities to transfer Khan from Adiala jail to Shifa International Hospital for an examination. Instead, according to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Khan was taken to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, where physicians from Shifa International were also present. PTI leaders accused the government of defying the Supreme Court’s order, while officials maintained the decision was dictated solely by security concerns.
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