Pakistan’s military on Wednesday rejected a report claiming that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan had died in custody, calling the claim false after it spread rapidly across Pakistani and Indian social media.

The report originated with journalist Wajahat Saeed Khan, who said on Tuesday that unnamed sources at the Pakistan Army’s General Headquarters told him the PTI founder had died inside Adiala Jail. Khan later walked the claim back, saying in a lengthy clarification that his sources had never actually confirmed a death.

Let’s be very clear, they did not confirm that Imran Khan is dead, Khan said in a follow-up video, adding that the officers he spoke with had described a profound paralysing fear that the worst may have happened, rather than documented evidence.

The Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate, the military’s media wing, issued a statement dismissing the report. Khan said he welcomed the pushback because it suggested the former prime minister was alive. He also said relatives of Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, reported seeing him on prison CCTV footage during a recent visit, walking on his own two feet.

Imran Khan, 72, has been jailed since August 2023 and is serving a 14-year sentence in a corruption case, along with a separate 17-year sentence handed down in December 2025 over state gifts. Family members and lawyers have said for months that they have struggled to get regular access to him. Amnesty International said in an August 4 statement that Khan has not been allowed to meet his family for more than eight months and that both he and Bushra Bibi have been denied regular access to legal counsel since December.

Reports of deteriorating health, including vision loss and severe blood pressure spikes, have circulated in Pakistani and international media for weeks, though none have been independently verified by the government or an outside medical authority.