Why Imran Khan is imprisoned in Adiala Jail? Khan and his wife are convicted in multiple cases related to…

Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, is currently in the news after rumors of his alleged death inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail triggered a political firestorm earlier this week. But why is Imran Khan incarcerated in the high-security prison?

Why is Imran Khan in jail?

Imran Khan was arrested in August 2023, and in January 2024, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “selling state secrets”, 14 years in the Toshakhana case. In March 2024, Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, received a 7-year term in the Iddat case, and a year later, in January 2025, the couple were sentenced to another 14 years in jail in the infamous Al-Qadir Trust case.

Imran Khan, 73, and his wife, Bushra Bibi have been convicted on graft charges for misusing 190 million pounds, and the charges include money laundering and misdirecting public funds. Additionally, the couple are also convicted in the Iddat case, which was filed by Bushra’s ex-husband, who accused her of marrying Khan during Iddat– the mandatory waiting period after a divorce according to Islamic law.

However, the former star cricketer and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have refuted the allegations, claiming that Khan’s “only crime” was to challenge the might of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment.

Imran Khan, the former captain of the Pakistan cricket team that famously won the 1992 ICC World Cup, served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to April 2022.

Imran Khan death rumors trigger furore

On Wednesday, unverified reports triggered a political firestorm by claiming that Imran Khan had been “assassinated” inside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where he has been incarcerated since August 2023.

The rumors stemmed from reports, that cited “sources” to claim that the former Pakistani premier has been killed. Several posts, including one from an X handle claiming to represent the “Ministry of Foreign Affairs Baluchistan”, carried a purported image showing Khan lying motionless on a stretcher.

However, independent fact-checkers noted that the image of Imran Khan being circulated on social media handles is from November 2022, when the jailed ex-PM had indeed survived an assassination attempt.

Later, Adiala Jail authorities refuted the rumors of Imran Khan’s death as “baseless”, asserting that the former Prime Minister is in “completely good health” inside the high-security jail.