The sons of jailed former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan have raised serious concerns about their father’s treatment in prison, claiming he is being kept in near-total isolation as part of what they describe as “clear torture tactics.”
In an interview with British journalist Mehdi Hasan, Kasim and Sulaiman Khan detailed the harsh conditions in which the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder has been held.
Asked about government claims that Khan is treated like a “prince” in custody, Kasim rejected the suggestion outright. “Couldn’t be less true,” he said, adding that his father is confined to a cell measuring just six feet by eight inches, “barely enough to stand.”
“The conditions are awful. He is washing himself in brown, murky water. 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,” Kasim said.
The brothers also described the former premier’s frustration over restrictions on communication. “He was just unhappy with the … complete isolation. They’re not even allowing guards to speak to him because they want total isolation from any other person just to try and break him,” Kasim said. “So it’s all very clear torture tactics.”
Sulaiman said he last spoke to his father in July, noting that court-mandated weekly calls have rarely occurred during his more than two years in detention. Kasim added that his last brief conversation with Khan took place around September, while their last in-person visit was in November 2022, following an assassination attempt.
The interview also touched on Khan’s social media remarks targeting top military officials. When Hasan asked if the family was concerned, Sulaiman said, “It does but that is his character.”
Asked whether they ever advise him to moderate his statements, Kasim laughed: “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.”
He added that their father remains a “man of faith,” confident that “God would protect him,” despite the harsh conditions.
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