Why is Imran Khan in Jail? (Pic source: AFP)
In a significant development, fourteen international captains, including Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, have made a heartfelt appeal to the Government of Pakistan for better treatment of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. The one and only Pakistan captain to win the ODI Cricket World Cup in 1992 has been confined to prison with no information available about his health or safety.
In their one-page request, they have asked for the 73-year-old Imran Khan’s physical, mental, environmental, and even social well-being, demanding immediate, adequate and ongoing medical attention from qualified specialists.
Thus, the attention is back on the reasons, accusations and conviction the former cricketer was imprisoned for.
What happened to Imran Khan?
A national hero since his cricketing days, Imran Khan had transformed into a charismatic politician and, after years of struggle, managed to replace the two rival established political dynasties that had dominated Pakistan for decades.
Thus, when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder, Imran Khan, was elected prime minister in 2018, he seemed to have almost everything in his favour. Moreover, no prime minister has ever completed a full five-year parliamentary tenure in Pakistan, and Imran Khan seemed poised to be the first, until it wasn’t.
In August 2023, Imran Khan, the former cricketer-turned-politician, was arrested at his Lahore residence after an Islamabad court sentenced him to three years' jail in a corruption case. Due to the conviction, he was banned from holding any office for the next five years.
Notably, months before his arrest, Imran Khan, while speaking the Al Jazeera, said that he had been named in at least 85 different cases, “Every other day, some sort of case comes up.”
Later in January 2025, Khan was sentenced to 14 years in prison for land corruption. Meanwhile, his wife, Bushra Bibi, was handed a 7-year sentence in jail in the same case,
Moreover, the verdict by an anti-corruption court was delivered in the same jail where Khan has been since August 2023.
Why is Imran Khan, the former Pakistan Prime Minister, in jail?
Here’s a list of cases and allegations passed against former Pakistan PM Imran Khan (as per NDTV):
- Corruption allegations (Al-Qadir Trust Case): Imran Khan and his wife were convicted of accepting land worth up to Rs 700 crore ($25.12 million) as a gift from a real estate developer during his time in the PM Office in exchange for illegal political favours. Though later, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party says the land was donated for charitable purposes.
- Toshakhana (State Gifts) Case: In December 2025, Pakistan’s former prime minister, Imran Khan, and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sentenced to 17 years in prison after a Pakistani court found them guilty of illegally retaining and selling valuable state gifts. The sentence, handed down, capped a years-long saga that saw the duo accused of selling various gifts – including jewellery from the Saudi Arabian government – at far below market value.
- Abetting violence (anti-terrorism): The former Pakistani PM was also charged with abetting violence (anti-terrorism) in the aftermath of his arrest in May 2023. Multiple PTI supporters have already been sentenced in relation to the same case.
- Sharing State Secrets: In June 2024, the former Pakistan captain was also accused of making a classified cable, sent by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington in 2022, public while he held the PM office. Khan was acquitted of leaking state secrets but will remain in jail because of a conviction in another case.
- Unlawful Marriage case: A court in Pakistan, in July 2024, acquitted former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife on charges of unlawful marriage, and sentenced them to seven years in prison, according to his party and lawyer. Notably, this charge was later dropped as well.
Thus, the former prime minister has been serving multiple prison terms since 2023 on corruption convictions and other charges that the former cricket star and his supporters have alleged are aimed at blocking his political career.
