Imran Khan is ‘physically well’ but ‘very angry’ about being so isolated, sibling says after visit.
Published On 2 Dec 2025
Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan is healthy but struggling with the largely solitary conditions in prison, his sister has said, after becoming the first family member in weeks to be allowed to visit him.
Uzma Khanum, who is a doctor, gave the update on Tuesday while speaking to reporters in Rawalpindi, the city where her brother is imprisoned.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
“He is physically well,” Khanum said. “But he is kept inside all the time and only goes out for a short while. There is no contact with anybody.”
Khanum described Khan as being “very angry” about being so isolated, saying that he deemed the resulting “mental torture” to be “worse than physical abuse”.
Their brief meeting was closely supervised, and no mobile devices were allowed during it, she noted.
Supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party had gathered outside Adiala Jail from early on Tuesday to hear how he was.
Prior to Khanum’s visit, both PTI and Khan’s family had expressed alarm that none of his relatives or associates had been allowed to see him for almost a month, with one of his sons telling Reuters last week of his fear “that something irreversible is being hidden from us”.
On Tuesday, the ex-leader’s spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari called on the authorities to allow Khan’s relatives and legal team to visit him more regularly.
His family also wants his personal doctor to check up on him, something that has not happened for more than a year.
Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission, an independent rights monitor, has said that it is “seriously concerned” by the reports of Khan’s detention conditions.
Pakistan’s authorities argue that Khan is not being mistreated, while Interior Minister Talal Chaudhry has said prison visits are the responsibility of jail officials rather than the government.
The 73-year-old detainee, who used to be a professional cricketer, served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 until April 2022, when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote.
He has been in prison since August 2023, and has been convicted on several charges including corruption and revealing state secrets. He has since been acquitted of some of the charges against him. Khan denies any wrongdoing, saying the cases against him are politically motivated.
Khan remains popular among many Pakistanis. His party won the most votes in the 2024 election, 4.5 million votes ahead of its nearest rival. However, rival parties formed a coalition government, freezing the PTI out.
