A rare Eid phone call turns explosive as Imran Khan speaks out from jail, alleging mistreatment of his wife and raising alarm over his own health, deepening the political storm around his imprisonment.
A rare Eid phone call from behind prison walls has opened a new front in Imran Khan’s battle with Pakistan’s establishment, with the jailed former prime minister accusing authorities of subjecting his wife, Bushra Bibi, to “inhumane treatment”.
The message, delivered through his son Kasim Khan after speaking to him on Saturday, carries both anger and desperation, and marks Khan’s first public remarks since fears over his failing eyesight intensified.
In a sharply worded statement, Khan turned his fire on Pakistan’s judiciary, accusing it of enabling what he described as pressure tactics against 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,” he said.
“They know they cannot break me, so they turn to my wife. How can they allow this inhumane treatment of Bushra Bibi, simply to blackmail me?”
At the centre of his claims is the condition of Ms Bibi, who has been lodged in Adiala Jail since January.
Khan alleged she is being kept in near-total isolation.
“She is being kept in complete isolation, except for 30 minutes with me per week and even that is denied often,” he said, painting a stark picture of their limited contact.
The allegations come as the couple remains entangled in multiple corruption cases. Khan and Bibi were sentenced to 14 and seven years respectively in one case linked to a property trust.
In December 2024, both were handed 17-year prison terms in another case involving the purchase of luxury state gifts.
His party continues to reject the cases as politically driven.
Khan has been in jail since August 2023, months after his removal from office through a parliamentary vote, an episode he has long claimed was engineered by Pakistan’s powerful military with backing from the US.
Running parallel to the political fight is a growing concern over Khan’s health.
On Monday, he was taken out of Adiala Jail for a third round of treatment for severe vision loss in his right eye, at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad.
“The injection was administered and he was kept under observation for some time before being shifted back to Adiala Jail,” a doctor said.
Doctors have now completed a three-dose treatment, with a review expected after four weeks to decide the next steps.
In January, his lawyer had said Khan had already lost about 85 per cent vision in the affected eye.
