Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, are being kept in increasingly harsh and degrading prison conditions, his party has alleged while urging Western countries to speak out against what it has called systematic political persecution and human rights violations.
Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari, a close aide to Mr Khan, 72, said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief and his wife had been subjected to “psychological” torment in prison. Ms Bibi was “gravely ill”, he said, and “fainted in prison” due to the heat nearly two weeks ago.
The PTI has sounded alarm over the treatment in prison of Mr Khan and his wife, 50, especially given the ongoing heatwave in Pakistan.
“They’ll tick the box by saying we have provided a fan or a cooler, but they’ll provide one that doesn’t work,” Mr Bukhari said, referring to prison authorities.
In the case of Mr Khan, he alleged, “they’ll just cut the electricity off in the middle of the day for hours, you know, to basically torture”.
He told The Independent that even the water supplied to Ms Bibi for ablutions had “got mud and sand and dirt inside of it, purposely.”
“By torturing her, they know how much it hurts Imran Khan,” he said, “that creates further emotional burden on him which they feel will help try to break him down or break her down”. “It’s just inhumane treatment that both of them are receiving, and due to that, Bushra Bibi’s health has deteriorated massively,” he added.
In January this year, Mr Khan and Ms Bibi were sentenced to 14 and 7 years in prison, respectively, for corruption in what has become known as the al-Qadir Trust case. They were found guilty of taking land as a bribe from a real estate tycoon in exchange for laundered money that had been returned to Pakistan by UK authorities.
Mr Khan, who was already in jail in several other pending cases, denied the bribery charges and called the verdict politically motivated.
In August Mr Khan will complete two years in prison. He still faces nearly 150 charges, ranging from corruption to terrorism.
His party claims all the cases filed against him are politically motivated.
“Imran Khan has been isolated for weeks now, if not months,” Mr Bukhari said, alleging this was being done “deliberately to undermine his political influence” and dismantle the PTI’s cohesion and national reach.
His party has alleged the former leader has not been allowed to meet his legal team and only a handful of select individuals have been permitted to see him.
“Imran Khan was and is the most popular leader in Pakistan, probably the most popular leader in Pakistan ever to date,” Mr Bukhari said.
“It is done so a discord is created within PTI,” Mr Bukhari said. “We are stuck for weeks because we don’t have direction on what Imran Khan wants on certain matters. So all of a sudden we’re in limbo, and limbo only ends up being detrimental to a political movement or a political party.”
Answering a question on whether the world had forgotten Mr Khan, especially given the focus on crises like Gaza, Iran, and Ukraine, Mr Bukhari told The Independent: “With everything that is happening currently, unfortunately the world has been, I would say, overall, extremely disappointing in terms of speaking for (democratic backsliding in Pakistan).”
Recently, Mr Khan’s sons, Suleman and Qasim, publicly appealed on his behalf for the first time, urging US president Donald Trump and the international community to help secure their father’s release from prison.
Mr Bukhari said: “They barely let him, Imran Khan, speak to his sons. He has to, literally, we all have to make a whole hue and cry about it so that he can get a phone call. So naturally, they’re heartbroken.”
Grave violations of prisoner rights continue against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi.
— Sayed Z Bukhari (@sayedzbukhari) June 24, 2025
Imran Khan remains in isolation, denied the basic facilities he is legally entitled to. Once again, he was only permitted to meet a few carefully selected individuals, while most of his legal and…
The PTI recently claimed the teenage daughter of Ms Bibi was made to wait in the heat for hours and then denied a meeting with her mother. Mr Bukhari alleged that this left the teenager emotionally shattered and the family heartbroken.
“She always has a massive emotional effect on her seeing her mother behind bars,” Mr Bukhari said, “but when they did, you know, they treated her this way, which really broke her down.”
As Mr Khan nears two years behind bars, his supporters say the silence of Western nations has only reinforced the erosion of democratic norms and human rights in Pakistan.
“Countries that chant so much about democracy and human rights don’t see what is happening in a country of 250 million where democracy was absolutely destroyed and human rights are non-existent,” Mr Bukhari said.
The Independent has reached out to the home department of Punjab province, which oversees the prisons where Mr Khan and Ms Bibi are held, for comment on the PTI’s allegations.
