A spokesman for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said today (Friday) that former Prime Minister Imran Khan was returned from a hospital in Islamabad to prison.
Khan was transferred from his prison to the hospital for medical examinations by order of the Supreme Court, according to what his party announced at dawn today.
Hundreds of police officers, some armed with batons, were deployed near the Shifa International Hospital in the capital, Islamabad, where the roads leading to it were closed.
Agence France-Presse quoted Zulfiqar Bukhari, spokesman for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party led by Khan, as saying: “His arrival at Shifa International Hospital was confirmed. The Supreme Court order has been implemented.”
Former Pakistani president and party member Arif Alvi also confirmed Khan's transfer in a post on the X platform, adding that the entire country is "happy and dancing with joy."
Dozens of his supporters gathered near the private hospital.
The Supreme Court, composed of three judges, decided on Tuesday to transfer Khan “within the next two days” to the “Shifa International Hospital” in the capital, Islamabad, after his lawyers submitted a request to the court in which they confirmed the deterioration of his health condition and his need for medical examinations.
This year, Khan underwent eye treatment in a hospital, while his family and lawyers say that he lost a significant amount of sight in his right eye.
Under the court's decision, Khan will be allowed to meet his family members once a week, and to speak by phone to his two sons twice a week.
Khan's personal doctor Faisal Sultan, as well as his sister Uzma Khan, who is also a doctor, will be allowed to participate in his medical follow-up.
Khan (73 years old) served as Prime Minister between 2018 and 2022, and has been imprisoned since 2023 on corruption charges, which he denies. His arrest was followed by nationwide protests in May 2023, which included violence and the arrest of hundreds.
Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced late last year to 17 years in prison.
South Korea reported on Thursday that it had detected Pyongyang launching short-range ballistic missiles, hours after US President Donald Trump announced that he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year.
This comes at a time when Seoul and its ally Washington are holding annual military exercises, the duration of which was shortened after Trump suddenly considered that they were sending a “hostile and completely inappropriate message” to Pyongyang.
These annual maneuvers are condemned by North Korea, which sees them as training for launching an attack on its territory, and it often launches missiles and carries out military experiments simultaneously with them.
The South Korean Armed Forces announced that North Korea launched more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang region towards the Sea of Japan, around 5 p.m. (8 a.m. GMT).
She indicated that the missiles traveled a distance of about 300 kilometers, noting that the South Korean and American authorities are conducting a detailed analysis to determine their specifications.
The Korean presidency called for an emergency security meeting, condemning the missile launches, which it saw as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions. It also ordered raising the level of preparedness in the country.
Unexpectedly, Trump has focused in recent days on the relationship with North Korea, which is subject to international and American sanctions due to its possession of nuclear weapons.
In response to a question from reporters at the White House on Wednesday whether he intends to meet with Kim in 2026, Trump replied, “Yes, I will.”
According to observers, the meeting may be held in November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in China.
Since his first term (2017-2021), Trump has boasted that he has a special relationship with Kim, whose country is considered by US intelligence to be a major threat to US national security.
This relationship returned to the forefront when the US President criticized joint military exercises with Seoul. In an additional comment on it, on Wednesday, he considered it “very insulting to someone who, frankly, and at least during my term, behaved very well,” referring to the North Korean leader.
Trump and Kim met three times during the first term. Trump is the first US president to meet a North Korean leader.
While the US President hinted during the past few days about communicating with Kim Jong Un, the latter's sister said on Wednesday that she was not aware of this.
Kim Yo Jong said: “With regard to the recent information issued by Washington regarding communication between the leaders of North Korea and the United States, I have no knowledge of it at all, and this may be the only issue related to the foreign policy of our higher authorities, with which I am not familiar,” stressing the “excellent” relationship between the two men.
The day after she said that reducing military maneuvers was “not worthy of comment,” Kim Yo Jong returned and described the move, on Thursday, as a “just punishment” against Seoul.
She said in a statement: “This sudden transformation is a deserved disaster, caused by the unrealistic delusions of the South Korean authorities and their outdated security outlook, at a time when these authorities are blindly following their master,” continuing: “They have received their just punishment.”
In statements on Wednesday, Trump provided an official and unusually accurate estimate of Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal, noting that it possesses "57 nuclear weapons."
The Republican president added: “This matter should never have happened (...) and if I were president, I would not have allowed it,” stressing again that, despite everything, he has a “very good” relationship with the North Korean leader.
The United States does not officially recognize North Korea among the list of nuclear countries in the world.
South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-bak reiterated his country's refusal to officially recognize North Korea's status as a nuclear state.
On Thursday, he said in response to a question about whether Washington had given up on stripping Pyongyang of atomic weapons: “I don’t think so.”
On Wednesday, the South Korean army announced that the joint military exercises between Seoul and Washington will conclude on Friday, and not on August 27, as was scheduled. Seoul noted that this decision was taken based on a proposal from the American side.
Washington, for its part, stressed that the maneuvers will preserve “the basic objectives related to readiness and training.”
The maneuvers were likely to be held in two phases: the first focused on defense against potential North Korean threats, and was scheduled to continue until Friday, and the second focused on a counterattack, and was scheduled to take place from August 24 to 27.
Trump's criticism of the maneuvers has alarmed the United States' Asian allies. Japan stressed that cooperation with South Korea and the United States is “vital” for regional security.
The United States deploys about 28,500 soldiers in South Korea to strengthen the country's defenses, which is a remaining legacy of the Korean War (1950-1953), which ended in an armistice instead of a peace treaty.
