The continued denial of independent medical access to Imran Khan, despite a Supreme Court order directing his transfer to Shifa International Hospital, has raised serious questions about his safety, health and treatment in prison.
Imran Khan has repeatedly warned that he could be killed in custody, saying: “They will kill me as they killed Morsi in Egypt.”
According to his family and legal team, Khan was fit and healthy before he was placed in complete isolation in October 2025. By the end of December, he reportedly began losing sight in one eye. Despite repeatedly informing the jail superintendent that he could not see, he was allegedly denied medical attention for nearly two weeks.
When a doctor was eventually permitted to examine him, Khan was reportedly told that the delay had resulted in permanent damage to his eye.
The circumstances surrounding the delay raise serious questions. There are reportedly numerous CCTV cameras around his cell, meaning that the authorities and agencies monitoring his confinement would have been aware of his condition. His supporters and legal team have therefore questioned why appropriate medical treatment was not provided sooner and have alleged that the delay was deliberate.
A Manufactured Narrative Around His Health?
Since then, very little reliable information about Khan’s condition has emerged from inside Adiala Jail. At the same time, medical reports and purported “inside information” about his health have repeatedly appeared on social media.
By the end of July, social media was suddenly flooded with claims that Khan’s health was deteriorating, that his hands and lips were trembling, that his blood pressure was unstable, and that prolonged isolation was affecting his mental health.
These claims were accompanied by images purportedly showing Khan in wheelchairs and hospital beds, some of which were later identified by supporters as fake or AI-generated.
This raises an important question:
Why is this narrative being created?
One interpretation advanced by Khan’s supporters is that those holding him believed that the extreme conditions of his imprisonment would eventually break him. They expected him to abandon his political struggle, give up on the people of Pakistan and choose his own safety instead.
He did not.
When he refused to give in, his supporters say he was subjected to even harsher conditions, including prolonged isolation from human contact, with only irregular weekly meetings with his wife, who is herself imprisoned at Adiala Jail.
Yet he has continued to maintain his political position.
Now, according to his supporters, because the pressure has failed to break him, a different strategy is emerging: creating a narrative around his physical and mental health that could shape public perception before reliable independent medical evidence is made available.
The Supreme Court Order
The most serious concern now relates to the implementation of the Supreme Court’s order of 18 August 2026.
The Court ordered that Imran Khan be shifted to Shifa International Hospital for an independent medical examination and treatment, in the presence of his sister, Dr. Uzma Khan, and his personal physician, Dr. Faisal Sultan.
The order reportedly carried a two-day deadline.
That meant Khan should have been shifted by 20 August 2026.
According to his legal team, that order has still not been implemented.
This leaves a fundamental question:
What is the government hiding that it is willing to defy a Supreme Court order rather than allow an independent medical examination of Imran Khan?
An independent examination would provide an opportunity to establish the actual state of his physical and mental health, determine what treatment he requires, and address the growing speculation surrounding his condition.
Instead, the absence of independent access has allowed conflicting claims, rumours and manipulated imagery to dominate the public narrative.
No Choice but Peaceful Protest
The continued failure to implement the Supreme Court’s order has left Imran Khan’s supporters with, in their view, no option but to come onto the streets peacefully.
There are two clear demands:
1. Immediately shift Imran Khan to Shifa International Hospital for a complete, independent medical examination and treatment, in compliance with the Supreme Court’s order of 18 August 2026.
2. Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar must either dispense justice or step aside.
The demand concerns the continued pendency of the bail applications of Bushra Bibi and Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir case, which their supporters say have remained pending for more than 22 months, as well as the Toshakhana case, where the bail applications have reportedly remained pending for around nine months.
At its core, this is no longer simply a political dispute.
It is a question of whether a prisoner—regardless of his political status—is entitled to proper medical care, access to independent doctors and the protection of court orders.
And when a country’s highest court orders an independent medical examination but that order remains unimplemented, the question becomes even more urgent:
Who is protecting Imran Khan’s life and rights if court orders themselves are not being enforced?