A three-judge bench ordered on Tuesday that Pakistan's jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan, be transferred to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad within two days for a medical examination. On Friday he was taken instead to the state-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, given a brief check-up and returned to jail, according to Al Jazeera.
His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, has responded by filing for contempt.
Who the petition names
Naeem Panjutha, a legal adviser to the party, said: "The petition seeks action against the prime minister, law minister, information minister" and other government officials.
The complaint is about compliance rather than about whether Khan received care. The order specified a hospital; a different hospital was used. Contempt proceedings are the mechanism by which a court tests whether its own instruction was followed, and the question before it will be a narrow one: was the substitution a breach of the order, or was it within the discretion the authorities had.
The government's account
Attaullah Tarar, the information minister, said Khan was examined at the state institute "due to security risks at Shifa hospital."
The government has also said the medical evaluation "did not find any issue requiring immediate care."
Those two statements answer different questions, and only one of them is the one the court asked. A security concern may or may not justify departing from a judicial instruction; that is for the bench to decide, and it is the kind of justification that courts examine rather than simply accept, because it is available in every case involving a high-profile prisoner.
What is claimed about his health, and by whom
Khan's sister, Uzma Khan, has said he is physically fit but has been "repeatedly tortured in prison."
That is a serious allegation and it is her account. It is contradicted by the government's position that the examination found nothing requiring immediate care, and no independent medical assessment of Khan has been made public. We are reporting both claims and neither is verified. This is the recurring difficulty with the health of any prisoner held incommunicado: the only parties with direct knowledge are the detaining authority and the detainee's family, and they disagree.
Background
Khan has been in prison since August 2023 on charges he says are politically motivated, following a falling-out with Pakistan's military. He led the country as prime minister until he was removed from office, and his party remains a major force in Pakistani politics despite his detention.
The Al Jazeera report does not specify which court issued Tuesday's order, does not list the convictions or sentences Khan is currently serving, and does not say when the contempt petition will be heard. We have not been able to reach a second independent source for this story, and have not filled those gaps with material we could not verify.
