ISLAMABAD: In a stark message from behind bars, jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has alleged that he has been tortured for 10 months, his sister Dr Uzma Khan said on Friday, quoting him as telling her: “Tell everyone… they have tortured me for 10 months.”
The claims emerged during Uzma’s conversation with Khan at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where he was taken from Adiala Jail for an eye examination, she said.
PTI said authorities had defied a Supreme Court order directing that Khan be taken to Shifa International Hospital for examination.
Speaking at a press conference alongside Khan’s personal physician, Dr Faisal Sultan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, Uzma said she met her brother at PIMS after authorities took him there from Adiala Jail.
She said she was called to Adiala at around 8:30pm on Thursday evening along with Dr Faisal Sultan. The two were initially taken to a room belonging to a police official and made to wait for several hours.
At around 12:30am, Dr Sultan was called away, while Dr Uzma was later asked to accompany a female assistant sub-inspector. She said she was placed in a small car, with a Land Cruiser and a police vehicle forming part of the convoy.
Uzma said she repeatedly asked where they were being taken and whether they were headed to Shifa International Hospital, but received no answer.
The convoy eventually reached PIMS. Uzma said she was surprised to find herself at PIMS, as she understood that the Supreme Court had directed that Imran be taken to Shifa International Hospital.
Officials told her that Imran had been brought to PIMS for a follow-up examination of his eye, she said.
Uzma said she was subsequently taken upstairs, where she met Imran Khan. He told police officers that his sister was meeting him after 10 months.
During the meeting, Imran complained about his treatment in detention, telling her that he had been subjected to severe injustice and torture.
“He told me to tell everyone that they had tortured him for 10 months,” she said.
Uzma said Imran Khan linked his hypertension to prolonged isolation, citing a doctor’s view that the lack of human contact was affecting his health, and compared his treatment with that of former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi.
She said he nevertheless appeared in good health, with his blood pressure at PIMS recorded at 120/80. Doctors also administered an eye injection and bandaged his other eye.
Uzma said she was unaware where she was being taken after leaving PIMS and was eventually returned to Adiala Jail. Dr Sultan, meanwhile, waited for several hours at Shifa International before arriving separately at the jail.
Dr Sultan said he had been taken to Shifa from Adiala and waited there for around two and a half to three hours. As Fajr approached, he added, he was told that Imran might not be coming and that he should leave.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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