Pakistan frees 2 of ex-PM Imran Khan’s sisters from jail

Pakistan released two of former prime minister Imran Khan’s sisters from prison on Thursday, after weeks in jail ahead of a planned anti-government march by their brother’s party, their lawyer said.

Uzma Khan and Noreen ‌Niazi were freed from Kot Lakhpat Jail in the eastern city of Lahore after the government suspended their detention orders, lawyer Mudassar Umar said.

Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said another of his sisters, Aleema Khan, remained in prison.

Pakistan’s government said it detained the sisters because they could have been a threat to law and ⁠order ahead of the planned march on Islamabad, which ultimately did not go ahead.

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The federal ‌government suspended the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, led by Khan’s party, that had been organising the demonstration. The Information Ministry did not return a ‌request for comment.

Uzma Khan’s son, Wali Khan, called for an explanation ⁠as to why his ⁠mother had been detained for 53 days and then released, saying the decisions were not based in law.

“Their ‌jailing was arbitrary, and so is their release,” he said in a post on social media.

The release came a ‌day after ‌Khan was taken to hospital in Islamabad, where he was given medical treatment.

Khan, ‌who has been imprisoned in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since 2023, was given an injection ⁠for an issue with his right eye as well as treatment for blood pressure, ⁠officials at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences said.

The 74-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has faced multiple corruption charges since he lost power in a no-confidence vote in 2022, and ‌has been in prison ‌for more than three years.

All of Khan’s convictions bar one have been suspended or overturned, with appeals pending. He denies wrongdoing and says the charges are politically motivated, a claim the government denies.