Today's Edition
ISLAMABAD (AFP)
Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered authorities on Tuesday to move jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to hospital for medical checks, after the popular politician's lawyers complained about his poor health.
Imprisoned since 2023, Khan will be moved “within the next two days” to Shifa International Hospital in the capital Islamabad, the court said in its order.
The three-bench court decided that the 73-year-old ex-cricket captain would also be allowed to meet with his family once a week and speak to his sons via telephone twice weekly.
“We are mindful of the constitutional and legal obligation... to safeguard the life, health, dignity and security of persons in custody,” the panel wrote.
Khan's personal physician Faisal Sultan, and sister and medical doctor Uzma Khan, "shall be permitted to remain associated with the prisoner's medical examination and treatment".
A medical board including an eye specialist and experts in internal medicine and cardiology would be established for Khan's treatment, the order said.
Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were both sentenced late last year to 17 years behind bars. The former prime minister 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.
Khan was prime minister of Pakistan from 2018 to 2022.
