Pakistan SC orders ex-PM Khan moved from jail to hospital

ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday 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 ShahidWaheed said 73-year-old Khan, 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.

There was no immediate information about the details of Khan'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 Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) told media outside the court, in a video shared on Facebook, that Tuesday'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".

Reuters adds, Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered authorities to move former Prime Minister Imran Khan to hospital from jail, where he has been lodged for the last three years, his lawyer and party said on Tuesday.

Since he lost power in a no-confidence vote in 2022, Khan has faced multiple cases on corruption charges, including over state gifts and an accusation of an unlawful marriage.

His family and party have said they fear for his deteriorating health in prison and say they have been denied access to him. His lawyer told a court earlier this year that Khan had lost significant vision in his right eye while in custody. A medical board later said his vision had improved.

All of his convictions but one have been suspended or overturned, with appeals pending. He denies wrong doing.

Following are details of the main cases among over 100 he says have been launched against him.

Khan was convicted and sentenced to 14 years in jail in 2025 in a land corruption case where prosecutors said he and his wife received land as a bribe through the Al-Qadir Trust - a charitable trust set up by Bushra Bibi, Khan's third wife, and Khan in 2018 when still in office.

Pakistani authorities have accused Khan and his wife of receiving the land, worth up to 7 billion rupees ($25 million), from a property developer charged in Britain with money laundering.

Authorities accused Khan of getting the land in exchange for a favour to return 190 million pounds to the property developer that had been repatriated to Pakistan by Britain in the money laundering probe.

Khan was convicted in 2024 with making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan's ambassador in Washington in 2022. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but it was later overturned. He denies the charge and has said the contents appeared in the media from other sources.

Khan has said the cable was proof of a conspiracy by the military and U.S. government to topple his government in 2022 after he visited Moscow just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Washington and Pakistan's military deny that.�" REUTERS