By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The sons of Imran Khan, the jailed founder of opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, have accused the authorities of subjecting their father to isolation and harsh conditions that they described as “clear torture tactics,” intensifying concerns over his treatment more than two years into his incarceration.
In a recent interview with the British journalist Mehdi Hasan, released in part on the media platform Zeteo, Kasim Khan and Sulaiman Khan detailed what they said were the grim realities of their father’s confinement in a Pakistani prison. A four-minute preview of the conversation is publicly available on Zeteo’s website, while the full interview remains behind a paywall.
The remarks come amid blocked court-ordered prison visits and growing alarm from Khan’s family, his party and international observers. A United Nations special rapporteur has warned that the former prime minister’s conditions could amount to inhuman or degrading treatment.
When asked about the government’s assertions that Mr. Khan was being treated like a “prince” in jail, Kasim Khan rejected the claim outright. “Couldn’t be less true,” he said. He described his father’s cell as measuring six feet by eight inches — “barely enough to stand” — with “awful” conditions overall.“He is washing himself in brown, murky water,” Kasim Khan said. “And the food he has is — he is not the one to complain — but it’s apparently dreadful. To be a prince is far from it.”
Recalling a recent meeting between Khan and his sister, Uzma Khan, Kasim Khan said his father had appeared “pretty furious from what we have heard.” He attributed this to “complete isolation,” adding that authorities were prohibiting even guards from speaking to him “because they want total isolation from any other person just to try and break him.” “So it’s all very clear torture tactics,” he said.
The brothers also spoke about their limited contact with their father. Sulaiman Khan said he last spoke to Mr. Khan “at the end of July,” despite court mandates for weekly calls that he said had “just never been followed throughout his time in prison, which is over two years now.” Kasim Khan added that his most recent conversation, lasting about six minutes, occurred “around September.” The pair last met their father in person in November 2022, shortly after an assassination attempt on Khan’s life. “We went there for a week I think,” Sulaiman Khan said.
In another segment of the interview, shared as a clip on Zeteo’s Instagram account, Hasan questioned the brothers about Khan’s public criticisms of Pakistan’s military leadership, including statements posted from his X account targeting Field Marshal Asim Munir, the chief of army staff and chief of defence forces. Hasan asked if they were worried by these remarks. “It does but that is his character,” Sulaiman Khan replied. When pressed on whether they ever advised their father to “tone it down,” Kasim Khan laughed and said: “No, he goes headfirst into danger historically, and we kind of accepted it at a young age that he was going to go into very dangerous situations.”
Sulaiman Khan reflected on his childhood fears for his father’s safety but said he had eventually “got used to it.” Kasim Khan described Khan as a “man of faith,” noting that he “always maintained that God would protect him.”
Officials in Islamabad swiftly pushed back against the allegations. Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesman for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on foreign media, told Zeteo that Khan “does not spend any time at all in a ‘cell’” and dismissed claims of isolation. “As a prisoner whose security and well-being [are] a priority for the state, he has designated living quarters,” Zaidi said. “He has his own gym facilities, his own outdoors lawn, his own space for walking and his own space for books and reading.”
He added that no other prisoner enjoyed the “space and leeway” afforded to Khan, suggesting that the former leader’s children and supporters were “misled by disinformation.” Zaidi detailed further accommodations: “He spends at least six hours a day outside the area where he sleeps. He has a cook exclusively assigned to him, and a medical officer in the prison checks every meal he eats.”
On the prospect of the brothers visiting Pakistan, Zaidi said they “will be treated with the rights and privileges due to all visitors to Pakistan — as per their status under the law.” He expressed hope that they could meet their father but cautioned that “it is almost certain that the father and his political workers will try to exploit any visit by the children as a political event.” “In that scenario, the local authorities will take whatever measures they need to take to disperse crowds and to ensure that political activity does not create the space for lawlessness and disorder.”
The interview follows the brothers’ appearance earlier this week on Sky News, where they said they had applied for visas to visit Pakistan in January and described Khan’s cell as a “death cell.” In July, they met with Richard Grenell, a key aide to United States President Donald Trump, to discuss their father’s release.
Separately, Tallal Chaudhry, minister of state for interior, addressed the media in Faisalabad on Saturday, rejecting the isolation claims and urging Khan’s family and party not to “play the sympathy card.” “How could he (Khan) be alone in a jail that has 1,200 inmates?” Chaudhry asked. He listed amenities including gym equipment and a personal cook, saying, “The whole area is operated as per his will.”
Chaudhry claimed that Mr. Khan’s communications with his sons had included phone calls “totalling over 14 hours.” Responding to assertions by Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, that the sons were being denied visas, he challenged her to provide tracking numbers. “Till today, I have not received tracking numbers … we are very clear that anyone who wants to come to Pakistan, we will issue them visas within a few hours.”
He noted that for over two years, the sons “had not renewed their National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP), and they have not applied for visas as per our records.” “If they have, give us the tracking number, and I assure you that they can come to Pakistan,” Chaudhry said. “He is their father; they can come and stand with him and meet him.” But he warned against manipulation. “Do not try to gain sympathy by saying that the kids are being kept away from their father. I assure you, apply for a visa, and we will issue it immediately.”
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