Imran Khan Jailed Three Years as Supporters Rally
Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan, has now spent three years behind bars, a milestone his party marked with protests denouncing what it calls his “arbitrary detention”. Rights groups condemned his reported solitary confinement and the conditions of his imprisonment. Mr Khan, ousted in 2022, has been convicted in a series of cases his supporters say are politically motivated.
Once the country’s most popular politician, Mr Khan remains a potent force even from prison, his party commanding a large and restive following. The authorities have kept him locked up through a thicket of legal cases while curbing his party’s activities, in what critics call an effort to sideline him for good. His continued detention has become a running sore in a country beset by economic and political turmoil, and a test of its fraught balance between civilian rule and a powerful military. International pressure over his treatment has grown. Watch whether the courts or the streets shift his fortunes.