Thousands of supporters of Pakistan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party rallied in Swabi on Monday to mark the first anniversary of former Prime Minister Imran Khan's arrest and demand his release and that of other political prisoners.

"With the help of the United States, you overthrew Imran Khan and then imprisoned him," claimed a PTI member. "Today it marks a whole year, we have been fighting on the streets again for justice. He is fighting in prison only for the sake of Pakistani people".

Footage shows protesters chanting and waving flags, with PTI leader Hammad Azhar addressing the crowd from the stage.

"Release him, release him, release Imran Khan, we condemn people like Nawaz Sharif who have taken away our electoral mandate, we demand our mandate to be given back to us," stressed Jahangir Bangish, a PTI member.

"The army also supports Khan, we are both brothers with army backgrounds standing in front of you in this rally, we only support justice, and the rule of law and only Imran Khan can deliver that in this country," said Major Jahanzaib.

"[..] As you can see the venue is full and we all came because we are in love with Khan and God willing after this historic rally Imran Khan will be free," shared Shiba Ali, a PTI member.

PTI supporters from across the country travelled to Swabi, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Khan's party is in power, to take part in the rally after the Pakistani government banned them from organising in the capital, Islamabad.

The protest is part of an effort by Imran Khan's opposition party, the PTI, to pressure the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to release Khan.

Imran Khan and his wife Bushra were sentenced to 14 years in prison for alleged corruption in late January, shortly after Khan was sentenced to 10 years for allegedly leaking state secrets.