In Pakistan’s turbulent politics, Allah, the military and America have long been seen as having an influence on who will hold power.

Imran Khan supporters, imprisoned former prime ministernow they’re pinning their hopes of unleashing him — however fanciful — on the wild card among the three: the incoming administration of Donald J. Trump.

Mr Trump has said nothing publicly to suggest he plans to intervene in Mr Khan’s case. After he is sworn in as president on Monday, Pakistan is unlikely to be high on Mr Trump’s foreign policy priorities.

But a series of social media posts by one of Mr Trump’s close allies has fueled an almost messianic certainty among Mr Khan’s followers that the former and future US president will help secure his freedom.

A Trump ally, Richard Grenell, has repeatedly demanded Mr. Khan’s release in messages on X. Mr. Grenell, who was ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence in the first Trump administration, was named by Mr. Trump last month as his “envoy for special missions.”

One of the posts of Mr. Grenella about Mr. Khan, written two days after his appointment, has garnered more than 12 million views. In another December message on X, which he later deleted, Mr. Grenell equaled Mr. Trump with Mr. Khan, another celebrity turned politician.

“Look at Pakistan,” he wrote. “Their Trump-like leader is in jail on trumped-up charges, and people were inspired by America’s Red Wave. Stop political persecution around the world!”

Another fierce Trump loyalist, Matt Gaetz, a former congressman from Florida, echoed Mr. Grenell with call X: “Free Imran Khan!”

It is unclear why Mr. Grenell, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, took up Mr. Khan.

But members of the Pakistani diaspora have undertaken a vigorous lobbying campaign in the United States because the party of Mr. Khan, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, battered at home with arrests, repression and censorship.

Mr. Khan — who was once backed by the powerful military but later lost its support — has been in prison since 2023 on various charges. He says the accusations are politically motivated. On Friday, the court sentenced him to another prison term, for corruption, together with his wife Bushra Bibi.

Followers of Mr. Khan’s statements of support from the camp of Mr. To Trump, they seem like straws of salvation. “Finally, our message is getting through,” said Atif Khan, a Houston-based official for Mr. Khan’s party.

Hope spread like wildfire in overcrowded WhatsApp groups and in living rooms where supporters of Mr. Khan. Every post by a Trump ally on social media is dissected, celebrated and shared as proof that change is inevitable.

Mr. Khan’s ardent followers draw parallels between him and Mr. Trump, seeing them as outsiders besieged by entrenched elites. Both relied heavily on social media to circumvent traditional power structures.

At Raja Bazaar, a crowded market in the city of Rawalpindi that often reflects the national political mood, Mohammad Sarwar interrupted his bargain hunting to express a sentiment common among Mr. Khan’s followers.

“Trump will help free Imran Khan,” said Mr. Sarwar, 43, invoking the president-elect’s name as if it were a fairy tale.

Courting US intervention is a striking move for the PTI, which has long branded itself as critical of American politics.

Mr. Khan, former cricket superstar, accused the United States orchestrating his ouster as prime minister in 2022. But his supporters are now framing their fight as one aligned with American values, saying they are fighting for democratic ideals and human rights.

In the past, Mr. Trump has spoken harshly about Pakistan. He accused its leaders of “lies and fraud” like himself froze $1.3 billion in security aid in early 2018. His administration also led the effort that year blacklisted by Pakistan in the Financial Action Task Force, a global watchdog that fights terrorism and money laundering. Those moves are still sore points in Pakistan, officials say.

Mr. Khan became Prime Minister later in 2018. Trump invited him to a meeting at the White House in July 2019. The following January in Davos, Switzerland, he called Mr. Khan “a a very good friend my.”

Officials in Pakistan’s ruling coalition dismissed PTI’s expectations for the incoming Trump administration as fantasy.

“PTI’s hopes are unrealistic,” said Khurram Dastgir-Khan, a former defense and foreign minister who belongs to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party. “The Trump administration, even if inclined to pressure Pakistan, is likely to prioritize financial leverage over the release or return of Khan to power.”

Pakistan’s military establishment, the invisible hand behind the country’s politics, has shown no signs of softening towards Mr Khan.

Faisal Vawda, a senator with close ties to the military, said he did not expect the Trump administration to make a major effort to help Mr. Khan, noting that it had been several weeks since Mr. Grenell last called for his release.

“I don’t see any good news coming from the Trump administration for PTI,” said Mr. Wow. Although the PTI worked through lobbyists in the United States, he said, “similarly, the Pakistani establishment was conducting its own diplomacy, and that explains why the tweets stopped.”

“I see Trump working with Pakistan, the military and the government,” Mr. Wow.