'Azaadi Ya Maut': Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Launches Protest Over Imran Khan's Prolonged Imprisonment

Last Updated:December 14, 2025, 23:48 IST

KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi reiterated Imran Khan's slogan of 'freedom or death' and vowed to bring back his regime in the province.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party supporters carry a poster of their leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan. (AFP)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has kicked off a large-scale protest movement against the Pakistani government and military establishment over former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s prolonged imprisonment in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, sources told CNN-News18.

Afridi said he was bringing Imran Khan’s message from the prison – ‘Azaadi ya Maut‘ (freedom or death) – and vowed to fight for the rights of the Pakistani people and bring back the regime of the incarcerated cricketer-turned-politician, according to sources.

“Some people are spreading fear in our minds that they will hit us with bullets, but let me make it clear that we are fighters of Imran Khan," he said. “They can’t stop us. We will follow Imran Khan’s policies, and only Imran Khan’s rule will prevail in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa."

This came as Pakistan is facing intense international scrutiny over the solitary confinement and detention conditions of former prime minister Imran Khan. There have been domestic allegations of mistreatment, underscoring grave warnings from international human rights bodies that Imran Khan’s solitary confinement may constitute psychological torture, with a UN expert calling for an immediate end to his isolation.

Earlier, Imran Khan’s former wife, Jemima Khan, wrote a letter to Elon Musk alleging that Pakistan is suppressing information about his plight by throttling her posts on X, limiting her ability to highlight his situation as a political prisoner to her large audience.

‘Mistreatment In Jail’

Moreover, Afridi has alleged that Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, “are being subjected to mistreatment in jail". Afridi’s comments came after he was denied permission to meet Khan for the 10th time by the Adiala jail administration. Khan’s close aide Dr Salman Ahmed has also been speaking out, amid claims that army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir is performing illegal actions on Khan.

Global watchdogs have cautioned Pakistan that isolating a former elected prime minister has serious democratic and psychological consequences. The strongest rebuke came from UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Alice Jill Edwards, who urged the government to take “immediate and effective action" in response to reports of “inhumane and undignified" detention conditions.

The Adiala Jail premises have been a hotbed of protests since rumours spread about Imran Khan’s health. Khan’s three sisters, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) activists and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa CM Sohail Afridi have been camping outside the Adiala jail for several days to pressurise the Shehbaz Sharif government to allow his family members to meet him

The cricketer-turned-politician has been in jail since August 2023, in multiple cases against him. He is currently lodged in the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. Last month, his party claimed that he was kept in “solitary confinement" and his cell door remains shut at all times.

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