Imran Khan expressed concern about the “inhumane treatment” of his wife Bushra Bibi in prison during a rare phone call with one of his sons for Eid over the weekend.
Kasim Khan, the jailed former prime minister’s son with his mother, British filmmaker and activist Jemima Goldsmith, said he spoke with his father on Saturday and was asked to relay his statement strongly criticising Pakistan’s judiciary.
It was Mr Khan’s first public statement since a diagnosis of severe vision loss raised concerns among family members and supporters. Mr Khan underwent a third round of eye treatment on Monday.
Mr Khan alleged the judiciary was allowing Pakistani authorities to mistreat Ms Bibi, his third wife, in order to “blackmail” him.
“The judges in this country should be ashamed of themselves. Time and again we have gone to the judiciary but they have sold their souls for personal gain. They have sold their integrity. They know they cannot break me, so they turn to my wife,” he said in the statement. “How can they allow this inhumane treatment of Bushra Bibi, simply to blackmail me?”
Ms Bibi was being kept in complete isolation, he charged, “except for 30 minutes with me per week and even that is denied often”.
Ms Bibi has been lodged in Adiala Jail since January, when she was named in a series of corruption cases alongside her husband.
Mr Khan and his wife have already been sentenced to 14 and seven years in jail respectively, for corruption in a case related to a property trust. In December 2024, they were sentenced to 17 years in prison each in another corruption case involving the purchase of luxury state gifts.
Mr Khan and his party have denounced the cases brought against the couple as politically motivated.
Mr Khan was jailed in August 2023, just over a year after he was removed from office through a parliamentary motion that he later accused Pakistan’s powerful military of orchestrating at the behest of the US.
Mr Khan’s party and supporters have expressed growing concern over his health in prison, and say he is being denied access to his own doctors. He was taken out of Adiala Jail for another round of treatment for vision loss in his right eye on Monday.
The cricketer-turned-politician was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences hospital, where he was administered an anti-VEGF intravitreal injection, Dawn reported.
“The injection was administered and he was kept under observation for some time before being shifted back to Adiala Jail,” an unnamed doctor told the newspaper.
The doctor added that the three-dose treatment had now been completed and a fourth injection was unlikely.
An assessment would be made after four weeks to determine if further treatment was needed.
In January, his lawyer said Mr Khan had lost roughly 85 per cent vision in his right eye and required urgent treatment from specialist doctors.
His family has repeatedly accused prison authorities of denying him proper medical care, saying his condition has worsened due to inaction.
A spokesperson for Mr Khan’s party alleged that “no one was informed, not the political leadership nor his family” about the hospital visit on Monday.
“It’s just an absolute disgrace how they are handling the situation. It has raised some very serious concerns,” Zulfi Bukhari said.
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