Sons of jailed Pakistani leader Imran Khan fear for his health

By Becky Anderson, Sophia Saifi, CNN

London and Islamabad (CNN) — The sons of the imprisoned former leader of Pakistan Imran Khan say they fear for their father’s health, claiming authorities in the South Asian country are preventing them from seeing him.

On the third anniversary of their father’s arrest, Kasim and Sulaiman Isa Khan said they had “no updates because his family, doctors (and) lawyers haven’t been allowed to see him for seven months.”

Thousands of workers from Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party took to the streets in rallies across the country on Wednesday to demand the release of the former star cricketer-turned-politician and his wife Bushra Bibi.

Khan, who led the country from 2018 until his ouster in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in 2022, has been in prison since his conviction a year later on charges including corruption and revealing state secrets – charges he and his supporters say are a politically motivated response to his opposition to the current government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Following his ouster, Khan had led large rallies against Sharif’s government, which he accused of orchestrating his downfall in collusion with the military and the United States (a claim denied by both the military and the US). Sharif’s government responded with a crackdown on Khan’s party, arresting its leaders and banning it from contesting the 2024 general election.

Kasim and Sulaiman spoke to CNN from London, where they have lived since the collapse of the marriage between Khan and his first wife – their mother, Jemima Goldsmith – in 2004.

From the UK they have been speaking out against their father’s incarceration, and claim that each time they speak to the media Pakistani authorities make it harder for them to see him, by delaying their visas or bogging them down with other administrative issues.

“We’re trying, we’d like to go, but nothing’s coming through,” Kasim said. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be accepted for a visa.”

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information told CNN that Kasim and Sulaiman both hold National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis – a document that should mean they do not need visas to enter the country – and that their claims were therefore “misleading and appear to convert an administrative process into an issue of political point-scoring.”

However, Kasim and Sulaiman said their cards have expired and not been renewed – a claim the ministry did not address.

Amnesty International released a statement this week urging Pakistani authorities to “unconditionally restore Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi Khan’s right to see their family and lawyers.” The human rights group said the pair “must be given access to adequate medical care and their solitary confinement, which is unlawful, should end immediately.”

An ‘exclusive seven-cell compound’

In a statement released to CNN, the government of Pakistan said that it “categorically rejects the claim that Mr. Imran Khan Niazi has been kept under a seven-month communications blackout or denied access to his family, lawyers and doctors,” insisting that “evidence shows repeated and substantial access (to the prisoner).”

It claimed that Khan’s most recent call to his son was on March 21, 2026, and said this showed “access (to him) has not been abolished” but “regulated under the Pakistan Prison Rules, applicable court orders, approved schedules and the security requirements governing a high-profile prisoner.”

It described Khan’s condition as “oriented and stable” without “any acute or unmanaged deterioration” and said he “continues to receive treatment, medication and follow-up care in accordance with medical advice, applicable prison rules and court directions.”

It also described Khan’s living conditions, saying the former prime minister was housed in “an exclusive seven-cell compound designed for approximately 30 to 35 prisoners. The facility includes a 57 x 14 foot corridor and a 35 x 37 foot lawn, together with a bed, mattress, four pillows, blankets, table, chair, sanitation facilities and exercise equipment,” arrangements which “bear no resemblance to the picture of isolation, neglect or punitive deprivation being presented publicly.”

Still, the government’s statement seems unlikely to satisfy human rights agencies such as Amnesty International, which has described the mass arrests of key members of his party and supporters as “arbitrary.”

Many of those arrested “remain detained under anti-terrorism charges while 85 have been convicted by military courts,” Kasim pointed out.

Asked if there was a chance their father could reach a deal with the government, the sons thought it unlikely.

Sulaiman said his father “wouldn’t (reach a deal that left) the other political prisoners in there … unless they were able to get some kind of resolution as well.”

Kasim also thought it unlikely, though he added it was “hard to say.”

“They’re refusing to show us any kind of health report. So his health may have deteriorated significantly since then,” Kasim said.

He added that he wanted to send a message that “anyone with power” should take notice of what’s happening in Pakistan.

“I know there’s a lot going on, but this is one of the most frustrating things. Not as sons, but for a whole country, for 350 million people who have voted for him, who support him, all want him to, you know, lead the country. Instead, they’re being shunned and instead the person they want in power is … behind bars for no good reason.”

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