By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Kasim Khan, son of Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, issued an urgent warning Tuesday about his father’s deteriorating prison conditions, calling them “really poor” and worsening daily.
In a public appeal, Kasim detailed the harsh circumstances of his father’s confinement, raising alarms about his health and restricted family access.
Speaking on the US-based outlet Real America’s Voice, Kasim, 26, described his father’s plight in stark terms.“Right now he’s in really, really poor conditions and it looks like they’re getting worse and worse by the moment,” he said. “So we’re looking for any way out possible.”
He emphasised that Imran Khan is being held “in a solitary confinement cell”. “The state of the cell he’s in is awful, quite frankly.” Kasim Khan went on to describe the dire sanitation, stating, “He’s showering in muddy water. I don’t mean unfiltered water. It’s muddy, dirty water,” and alleged that “10 people who were incarcerated had died from filthy conditions.”
The 26-year-old expressed deep distress over his inability to connect with his father. “We’re not able to speak to him at all,” he said, noting that Imran Khan “gets only two hours a day in daylight.” He also claimed that his father had endured “moments … he went 10 days without any light in his cell,” which he called a “torture tactic.”
Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, has been imprisoned since August 2023 at Adiala Jail, serving a sentence in a £190 million corruption case. He also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act tied to protests on May 9, 2023. His sons, Kasim and Sulaiman Khan, 28, spoke publicly about his incarceration for the first time in May, marking a shift as the family amplifies its calls for his release. Earlier this month, Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, told reporters that the brothers would travel to the United States before returning to Pakistan as part of a movement advocating for their father’s freedom.
Kasim Khan confirmed that he and Sulaiman recently visited the US and engaged with lawmakers to seek support. “We’re looking to America at the moment,” he said. “A lot of the people here have expressed concern. It seems like it might be the only route out at the moment.”
He highlighted a meeting with Richard Grenell, a key aide to President Donald Trump. “Grennell was very kind to spend some time with us.” While guarded about specifics, Kasim Khan expressed optimism, saying, “We spoke at length and I don’t want to get into details but I’m very, very hopeful from that.”
Despite his imprisonment, Imran Khan’s political influence persists. Kasim Khan pointed to the February 2024 elections, which PTI won, asserting that the victory came despite “vicious rigging.” “[Despite] the amount of underhand tactics they used before the election to rig it against his favour, [he] still managed to win.”
Aleema Khan, speaking to reporters today, affirmed the sons’ plans to visit Pakistan. “Sulaiman and Kasim will definitely come to Pakistan,” she said, noting that they hold Pakistani citizenship through the National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP). “If anything were to happen to Imran’s sons, it would become an international matter.”
Pakistan’s government, meanwhile, has signaled it will not block their return. “Why would the government stop Imran’s sons from coming to Pakistan?,”Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters in Islamabad. However, he cautioned against unrest. “The PTI will not be allowed to pull off another May 9 or Nov. 26,” referring to past violent protests tied to the party.
The PTI rebutted claims circulating in the media that Imran Khan had told reporters at Adiala Jail his sons would not come to Pakistan or lead protests. “The news circulating in the media regarding Imran Khan Sahib’s children is completely false,” PTI Central Information Secretary Waqas Akram said. “Imran Khan sahib has absolutely not stopped his children from coming to Pakistan.”
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