Pakistan arrests Imran Khan's sister Aleema Khan in Lahore

September 20, 2026 at 05:57 PM2 min

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Police arrested Aleema Khan, sister of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, from her Lahore home on Sunday. The arrest came a week before a PTI protest march scheduled for September 27 demanding Khan's release. PTI condemned the arrest as illegal and demanded her immediate release.

Key Facts

Aleema Khan was arrested from her house in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, on Sunday.
The deputy commissioner of Lahore ordered her 30-day detention under the Maintenance of Public Order law.
The arrest came exactly one week before a PTI protest march scheduled for September 27 to demand Imran Khan's release.
PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram called the arrest illegal and demanded her immediate release.

The Arrest

Police arrested Aleema Khan from her house in Lahore on Sunday, a senior police official confirmed. The deputy commissioner of Lahore passed an order for her 30-day detention under the Maintenance of Public Order law of Punjab. Her lawyer Rana Mudassar Umer said she was taken to an unknown location and that she has bail in all her cases in Lahore. There was no immediate comment from the government on the arrest.

PTI Response

PTI condemned the arrest as illegal and demanded her immediate release. PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram called it an illegal arrest and a deliberate attempt to worsen the situation. He added that Aleema Khan, in her 70s, was arrested because she refused to stay silent about her brother's illegal detention and denial of medical care.

Imran Khan's Imprisonment

Imran Khan, 73, has been jailed since August 2023 over a series of convictions his party calls politically driven. All but one of the convictions have since been suspended or overturned on appeal. Concerns over his health, particularly his right eye, have driven the PTI campaign to demand his release. His sons Sulaiman and Kasim Khan told Al Jazeera they are increasingly worried about his severe anxiety.