Pakistan has released Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi Khan, two sisters of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, from Kot Lakhpat prison in Lahore. Their lawyer, Mudassar Umer, said on social media that they had arrived home safely. A third sister, Aleema Khan, arrested the same day, remains in jail, according to Khan's party, the PTI.
Why they were held
The sisters were arrested and placed under 30-day detention orders about a week before a PTI march on 27 September to demand Khan's release. Uzma Khan was held for 53 days, according to her son Wali Khan, who said the jailing and release were not based in law. The government said it detained the sisters because they could have threatened law and order ahead of the planned march on Islamabad. The march did not go ahead, and the federal government also suspended the PTI-led provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which had been organising the protest.
PTI's Zulfiqar Bukhari said the release does not end the injustice and demanded no selective relief, no intimidation and no further persecution.
Khan's health and access
Khan, 74, has been in jail since August 2023 on multiple corruption charges, which he denies and which his party calls politically motivated; the government rejects that. According to the report, all but one of his convictions have been suspended or overturned on appeal. He is being treated with a series of eye injections for a blocked retinal vein.
On 11 November he was taken overnight from Adiala Jail to a government hospital in Islamabad for an eye examination and another injection, was described as clinically stable, and was returned to prison at about 2.30 am. PTI said the family and personal doctors were not told in advance and demanded immediate and unrestricted access for his family, doctors and lawyers. A government minister said Khan is receiving the required medical care and is not being neglected. In August the Supreme Court had ordered that he be moved to a private hospital of his choice, and PTI accused the government of defying that order.
