Imran Khan Held in Solitary Confinement at Adiala Jail

Former Pakistani Prime Minister and cricket captain Imran Khan has been held in solitary confinement at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail since August 2023. His lawyers and family describe the confinement area, measuring 2.4 meters by 3 meters (or 8 feet by 10 feet), as a death cell.

Khan is currently serving a 14-year sentence for corruption, which is to be followed by an additional 17 years on a separate corruption charge.

Conditions of Imprisonment

While Khan has had access to visitors, his privileges have been inconsistent. Access to books, newspapers and television has been intermittently revoked. In late 2025, the level of isolation was so severe that rumors began to circulate regarding his death.

This current period of incarceration contrasts with a previous experience Khan had in 2007, when he was imprisoned for eight days. In his 2011 memoir, Pakistan: A Personal History, Khan recalled that the most difficult aspect of that short spell was the perception that time had stopped moving.

The worst of it… Was that time would not pass. I thought I was going to die of boredom.

Imran Khan, Pakistan: A Personal History

During that 2007 imprisonment, Khan described a routine of waking at dawn and lingering in bed to make the day feel shorter. He recounted reading newspapers from front to back in the afternoon, only to find that only an hour had passed. He described the food as terrible and the bathroom as squalid. During that period, he attempted a hunger strike but ended it after two days when he lacked the strength to walk.

Political and Public Response

Despite his confinement, Khan remains a central figure for his political party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). On December 15, 2024, PTI supporters gathered in Peshawar to observe Martyrs’ Day, an event intended to honor individuals who allegedly died during protests the previous month. During this gathering, supporters displayed posters of the jailed former prime minister.

Khan’s public profile is built on a diverse career, having transitioned from a professional cricketer to leading a championship cricket team, establishing a cancer hospital for the poor, and eventually founding a popular political party.