Pakistan’s government challenged a Supreme Court order on Wednesday directing that jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan be moved to a private hospital, according to a petition filed with the court. The move could dash the hopes of Khan’s party and family, who have long called for him to be granted proper healthcare access and visitation rights, and could also stir public discontent over the treatment of the hugely popular cricketer-turned-politician.
Khan, 73, has been held in jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi since August 2023, convicted in a string of cases he says were politically motivated after he fell out with the country’s powerful military and was removed from office the previous year.
The Supreme Court order, issued Tuesday, had directed the government to move Khan to the private Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad within two days, while also specifying that he be granted access to his personal physician. “This order is not within four walls of the law,” Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar said in a video statement issued Tuesday night.
In its petition, the government argued that moving a convicted felon to a private hospital based “on a report which does not disclose any condition requiring immediate medical treatment will severely disturb the whole criminal justice system.” It added: “If the interim order is not recalled it will open a flood gate of prisoners seeking similar relief, which under the prevalent law cannot be granted.”
