ISLAMABAD: The issue of alleged solitary confinement of Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi has also reached the Islamabad High Court, where her daughter Mubashra Khawar Ma­­neka filed a petition challenging her mother’s confinement in Adiala jail.

In the petition, the superintendent and deputy superintendent of Adiala jail, Inspector General of Punjab Prisons and chairman of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) have been made respondents.

The petitioner contended that family meetings with Bushra Bibi had been prohibited and that no court had ordered her solitary confinement.

The petition said that keeping Bushra Bibi in solitary confinement was illegal and amounted to an excessive use of powers under the prison rules of the country. It argued that under the prison rules, no prisoner could be kept in solitary confinement for more than 14 days at a time.

Referring to the United Nations Nelson Mandela Rules, the petition said that indefinite solitary confinement was against human dignity and international standards governing the treatment of prisoners.

The plea further said that Bushra Bibi underwent surgery on her right eye in April and was shifted to hospital twice after suffering pain in the operated eye. However, prison authorities allegedly neither informed her family or lawyers about the nature of the illness and treatment nor shifted her to hospital for proper diagnosis.

According to the petition, the PTI founder inf­o­rmed his lawyers that Bu­­shra Bibi was being kept in solitary confinement round the clock at Adiala jail. It was further alleged that lawyers were being prevented from meeting her for legal consultation and for obtaining signatures on powers of attorney.

The petition requested the high court to declare Bushra Bibi’s solitary confinement illegal and in violation of Articles 9 and 14 of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2026