Sister of Pakistan’s jailed ex-PM Khan files contempt plea against prison officials

The sister of Pakistan’s imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan has filed a contempt petition against prison authorities and senior government officials, accusing them of repeatedly ignoring court orders granting access to the opposition leader.

Aleema Khan submitted the petition to the Islamabad High Court, naming the superintendent of Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail - where Khan has been held since August 2023 - the local police chief, the federal interior secretary and Punjab’s home secretary as respondents.

The petition points out “willful and intentional disobedience” of multiple court directives issued since early 2024, which required prison authorities to allow Khan - classified as a “superior class” prisoner - to meet daily with family, legal counsel and political associates.

It cites earlier Islamabad High Court rulings in February and March 2024 permitting up to six non-lawyer visitors per day in addition to lawyers, and a March 28, 2024, government-issued standard operating procedure designating Tuesdays and Thursdays for such visits.

Despite assurances by the jail superintendent on November 8, 2024, the petition states that senior opposition leaders - including Senate Opposition Leader Shibli Faraz and National Assembly Opposition Leader Omar Ayub Khan - were made to wait for hours and briefly detained by police when they arrived for scheduled visits on November 12.

Aleema has requested that the court initiate contempt proceedings under Article 204 of Pakistan’s Constitution, impose penalties on the officials involved and immediately direct prison authorities to allow her to meet her brother.

'Sit-in called off'

The filing comes after repeated protests by Khan’s family. His sisters, including Aleema, staged sit-ins outside Adiala Jail on multiple occasions after being barred from meeting him. The latest sit-in ended on Friday, with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, Sohail Afridi, announcing plans to approach the Islamabad High Court, where Aleema has now filed the contempt plea.

During a media briefing at the high court, CM Afridi said that neither he nor Aleema were allowed to meet the chief justice. He also expressed concern that since October 27, no one - including Khan’s sisters, party leaders, lawyers, or doctors - has been allowed to meet the former prime minister or his wife, Bushra Bibi. Afridi recalled a November 19 sit-in in which police allegedly “manhandled and violently detained” Khan’s sisters.

Khan, 72, a former cricket star turned populist politician, was removed from office in 2022 and later convicted in multiple corruption and other cases. He has consistently denied wrongdoing, describing the charges as politically motivated.