Pakistan’s jailed Imran Khan loses 85% vision in right eye
Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan has lost 85% of sight in his right eye, his lawyer told the Supreme Court, an ordeal that adds to legal and political challenges he is already battling.
Khan, 73, has been in jail since August 2023, serving a 14-year sentence on corruption charges, one of dozens of cases he says were made up in order by the army to keep him out of politics, a charge the military denies.
“He has been left with only 15% vision in his right eye,” Khan’s lawyer Salman Safdar said in Thursday’s report seen by Reuters, quoting the former cricket star turned politician.
The fact-finding report cited Khan as saying he had been complaining about “experiencing persistent blurred and hazy vision” since October 2025, but that jail authorities took no action.
Safdar submitted his report after a two-hour meeting with Khan ordered by the Supreme Court, which set a February 16 deadline for authorities to allow Khan access to his personal physician for the report on his condition.
VISIBLY PERTURBED AND DISTRESSED KHAN HAS WATERY-EYES
He said he observed that Khan appeared “visibly perturbed and deeply distressed by the loss of vision”, adding his “eyes were watery, and he repeatedly used a tissue-paper to wipe them.”
Khan was taken to hospital for a 20-minute eye treatment procedure, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said earlier this month.
He was diagnosed with a right central retinal vein occlusion, or blockage, according to a February 6 medical report submitted in the court based on an examination by an ophthalmologist in his prison cell in the city of Rawalpindi.
Accordingly, it said, Khan was taken to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad where doctors carried out the 20-minute procedure in an operation theatre with his consent.
Pakistan’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tariq Fazal said on Friday that reports that Khan had been complaining about his eyesight since October were wrong and that ail authorities were only notified about it on January 16. Specialist ophthalmologists carried out the procedure on January 24, he added.
“It is not a political issue. It is a medical issue. We will provide every possible support for his health,” Fazal told reporters in Islamabad.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party said in a statement the party demanded unrestricted access to qualified specialists of Khan’s choice, and an end to tactics that risk his life under custody.
The party, which had faced a crackdown after Khan’s May 2023 arrest sparked nationwide protests against the military, emerged as the single biggest in a 2024 election.
But it said rigging robbed it of more seats to help other parties form a coalition government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accusations that Sharif and his allies deny.