Imran Khan’s health in ‘grave danger’ after eye blockage diagnosis, party says

Original article by Shah Meer Baloch in Islamabad

Pakistan’s incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan is facing severe eye damage and is being denied proper access to medical treatment while in solitary confinement, officials from his political party say.

Khan, 73, considered Pakistan’s most high-profile political prisoner, has been in jail since August 2023. He is serving sentences for corruption and leaking state secrets, which he has claimed are part of a state-sponsored campaign to keep him out of power.

Khan has largely been kept in solitary confinement, according to his lawyers and party leaders, who said they have been denied access to him for the past three months.

According to a statement by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Khan’s party, their fears for his health worsened after reports the former prime minister had been diagnosed with a dangerous blockage in the retinal vein in his right eye, known as a central retinal vein occlusion.

If left untreated, the condition can cause permanent damage to eyesight.

“According to medical experts who reportedly checked him in jail, this is an extremely sensitive and serious medical condition which, if not treated promptly and properly, carries a high risk of permanent damage to his eyesight,” the PTI said.

Khan reportedly already has blurred vision because of the condition. The party said the prison authorities had not allowed his personal doctor to examine him for months, which they said was “reckless” and putting Khan’s health in “grave danger”.

For the past three months, lawyers and senior party figures as well as Khan’s sisters, have been protesting over their lack of access to Khan in Adiala prison. Their demonstrations have been met with teargas and water cannon.

A court order stated Khan should be allowed visits by family and lawyers twice a week. However, he last met his lawyers 100 days ago and a legal petition by his party leaders to get access to him in prison was rejected this week.

Gohar Ali Khan, a barrister and PTI chair, said the party had significant concerns about Khan’s health and his conditions in prison.

“Despite the court orders, we could not meet Khan,” he said. “He is incommunicado and in solitary confinement, which is against his fundamental rights. After the reports on Khan’s health, we and his physicians should be given immediate access.”

After concerns over his condition late last year, Khan was allowed to briefly meet his sisters in early December, who reported that his health was fine. “Presently, we don’t know anything about the condition of his eye as we are not allowed to meet him,” said his sister Uzma Khanum, speaking on Wednesday as she took part in a sit-in outside the jail to demand access to her brother.

Khan served as prime minister between 2018 and 2022 before he was toppled in a vote of no confidence after he fell out with the powerful military establishment.

He was arrested in August 2023 on more than 100 charges he claimed were made up by the military and government in order to disqualify him from politics.

Khan was first sentenced to three years for “selling state gifts”, and in January 2025 was sentenced to a further 14 years in prison on corruption charges. His wife, Bushra Bib, was sentenced to seven years in the same case and remains in jail.