IHC Orders End to Solitary Confinement for Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has directed authorities at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail to ensure that former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, are not kept in solitary confinement, while also issuing instructions concerning family access, telephone contact and prison facilities. The ruling addresses petitions challenging restrictions imposed on the incarcerated couple and requires the jail administration to report back on compliance.
Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro announced the decision on petitions filed by Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan and Bushra Bibi’s daughter, Mubashra Khawar Maneka. The court held that the petitions were maintainable, relying on principles established in earlier cases involving Begum Nusrat Bhutto and Begum Shamim Afridi. The proceedings had focused on allegations that prolonged isolation and restrictions on contact with relatives and lawyers amounted to unlawful solitary confinement.
Under the court’s directions, Adiala Jail authorities are required to facilitate meetings between Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in accordance with prison rules. The court also ordered that Imran’s family members be permitted to meet him as allowed under the applicable regulations and that arrangements be made for telephone conversations between the PTI founder and his sons.
The judgment placed conditions on the telephone facility, stating that it could be withdrawn if recordings of the conversations were used for political purposes. Jail authorities were also instructed to provide Imran with newspapers and books on a daily basis and to ensure that medical facilities available under prison rules are provided to him. The superintendent was specifically directed to make sure Bushra Bibi was not held in solitary confinement.
The Adiala Jail superintendent has been ordered to implement the directions and submit a compliance report within 15 days. That requirement gives the court a mechanism to review whether its instructions concerning confinement conditions, family meetings and other facilities have been carried out by the prison administration.
During earlier proceedings, government representatives and jail officials rejected allegations that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi were being subjected to solitary confinement. The prison administration maintained that Imran was housed separately because of security considerations linked to his political profile. Officials told the court that he had access to a compound containing several cells and was able to move within that area during the day rather than remaining inside a single cell continuously.
The authorities had presented a similar security-based explanation for Bushra Bibi’s separate accommodation. Lawyers representing the petitioners disputed that position, arguing that the restrictions imposed on the couple resulted in prolonged isolation and mental distress. They also raised concerns about access to relatives, lawyers and reading material and sought more regular communication arrangements.
The ruling comes amid continued political and legal attention surrounding Imran Khan’s incarceration and the conditions under which he is being held. The information ministry had previously rejected claims that he was facing punitive solitary confinement or deprivation, saying visits, telephone contact, reading material and other facilities were available to him. PTI rejected those assertions as inaccurate. The immediate next step is now with the Adiala Jail administration, which must implement the IHC’s directions and submit its report to the court within the prescribed 15-day period.