ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday restored twice weekly visiting rights for incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan, allowing his family, lawyers and political aides to meet him on Tuesdays and Thursdays, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said.
A three-member larger bench was hearing 26 petitions related to visitation rights and jail conditions for Khan. Abdul Ghafoor Anjum, the superintendent at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi where Khan has been incarcerated since 2023, had used his discretionary powers to limit the former premier’s meetings to Tuesdays only.
Khan’s cases have been tried inside prison on security grounds after he was jailed, and he has not been seen in public since. His messages to the public are conveyed by his lawyers and his social media accounts.
During the hearing of the petitions on Monday, Khan’s counsel Zaheer Abbas said he was scheduled to meet his family and lawyers on Tuesday and his friends on Thursday, but the Thursday meeting was not being allowed.
“IHC has ordered the jail authorities to resume meetings with Khan, of family, legal team and political leadership twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) while banning media talk outside Rawalpindi Adiala Jail after the meetings,” the PTI party said in a statement.
“Though it’s unfair to stop family and leadership to keep the media and public posted with the message from Khan but given the blatant bias toward the party and chairman, the legal team has opted to go for resuming biweekly meetings with Imran Khan.”
Naveed Malik, representing the jail superintendent, said Khan had been holding meetings in jail twice a week until he was convicted and handed a 14-year sentence in a land corruption case in January.
“The status of the founder of PTI has changed after being convicted in jail,” the lawyer informed the court.
“According to the jail rules, the superintendent of Adiala Jail has the authority [to schedule the meetings accordingly].”
Malik said PTI leaders had been misusing the privilege of the meetings and making political statements outside Adiala jail.
“After the meeting, they come outside the jail and make political statements to the media, this is a violation,” he argued.
The judge heading the bench then ruled that Khan’s family and aides could meet him twice a week but should leave after the meetings and not engage in political activity outside the jail premises.
“We take an undertaking from them that they will not talk to the media after jail meeting,” he said, adding that only the coordinator of the incarcerated PTI founder, Salman Akram Raja, who is the PTI general secretary, would name those allowed to meet him.
The jail superintendent’s lawyer said two meetings could be arranged weekly if Khan’s visitors provided assurances “that they will not come out and have political discussions.”
Khan has been in prison since August 2023 and faces a slew of cases, from corruption to treason, that he says are politically motivated.
In January, the former premier, 72, was convicted on charges that he and his wife were given land by a real estate developer during his premiership from 2018 to 2022 in exchange for illegal favors. Khan and Bibi had pleaded not guilty.
