Pakistan - Pakistani authorities on Thursday released two sisters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan from a Lahore prison, withdrawing a detention order their lawyers had challenged — while a third sister remains behind bars in what Khan’s party describes as an ongoing campaign of persecution against his family.
Noreen Khan and Uzma Khan walked out of Kot Lakhpat prison at 2:00 pm local time (0900 GMT), their lawyer Rana Mudassar told AFP, confirming the government had withdrawn the order under which the two women were held. Their sister, Aleema Khan, remains in detention.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party confirmed the release but struck a defiant tone, saying the decision does not “erase the suffering inflicted on Imran Khan’s family” and demanding “no further persecution.”
Detained for demanding protest rights
The three sisters were seized in September and placed under 30-day detention orders after PTI called for protests that the government branded illegal — a move critics see as collective punishment aimed at silencing the family of the country’s most popular opposition figure.
Mudassar said lawyers had challenged the joint detention order against Noreen and Uzma, which authorities had extended. Facing a scheduled hearing on that challenge, the government withdrew the order instead. Lawyers are now seeking the withdrawal of Aleema’s separate detention order.
A jailed leader denied proper medical care
Imran Khan, 74, who served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been imprisoned since August 2023 and faces dozens of charges ranging from corruption to treason following anti-establishment unrest. The former cricket star and his legal team reject the accusations as politically motivated cases designed to crush his popularity.
Public anger over his imprisonment boiled over in October, when thousands took to the streets in PTI’s stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, demanding adequate medical treatment for Khan and access to him by doctors and family members.
The former premier was briefly taken out of prison overnight from Wednesday to Thursday for an eye examination and treatment before being returned to Rawalpindi’s central jail. Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled in August that Khan should be transferred to a civilian hospital for treatment — yet authorities returned him to prison after only a brief stay at a government-run facility.
The establishment — and Washington
Khan’s fall from grace traces back to his rupture with Pakistan’s powerful military establishment, which had backed his rise to power. The two sides fell out over key appointments and issues tied to US intervention in Pakistan, before he was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in 2022.
Leaked diplomatic cables reported by Drop Site have since revealed a US push for Khan’s removal — context that his supporters say exposes the political engineering behind his imprisonment and the continued targeting of his family.
For PTI, Thursday’s release changes little: one sister remains jailed, the former prime minister remains behind bars, and the demand for an end to the persecution continues.
Reference: Al-Mayadeen