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‘Psychological torture, filthy water’: Imran Khan's sons' big claim on his jail conditions in Pakistan
The brothers said that they hadn't spoken to their father Imran Khan for seven months and plan to visit Pakistan next month.
Amid concerns and speculation over former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s health, his son Kasim Khan and Sulaiman Isa Khan have made big claims on the conditions he is being kept in inside jail. They expressed fear of not seeing their father ever again and claimed that the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) founder was being kept in solitary confinement for two years.
Speaking to Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, the two brothers said that Khan was being kept in substandard conditions in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, with filthy water, and surrounded by inmates dying of hepatitis. Kasim and Sulaiman Khan also claimed that the former PM was being "psychologically tortured" in a “death cell”.
"The conditions are not bad, they are awful... He has been in a solitary confinement cell for over two years, where he's had filthy water, and he is around inmates who are dying of hepatitis. We are trying to have faith. It's very hard to see a way out. We are now worried we might never see him again," Kasim Khan said in the interview.
The brothers said that they hadn't spoken to their father for seven months and plan to visit Pakistan next month. According to them, their visa application was pending before the Pakistan government.
Sulaiman and Kasim are Imran Khan's sons from his first marriage with Jemima Goldsmith, who had also recently reached out to Tesla CEO Elon Musk alleging that her posts on X were lacking reach inside Pakistan. She had also said that her sons had not been able to get in touch with Imran.
Imran Khan has been lodged in Adila Jail for the last two years. In the interview, Sulaiman claimed their father had been completely cut off from any human contact and was not even being allowed to speak to prison guards, calling it "psychological torture tactics". He said that Khan is kept 23 hours in a solitary cell, and sometimes electricity is also "cut off".
"He is being held in completely substandard conditions that do not meet international legal standards for any prisoner," Sulaiman said.
Allegations and defence on jail conditions
Imran's sisters and PTI workers held another sit-in outside Rawalpindi's Adiala jail after being denied a meeting with the former PM. They were dispersed using water cannons. The party alleged that the police used "chemical-laced" water. Khan’s three sisters and 400 other party workers were booked on terror charges on Monday.
A United Nations official last week reminded the Shehbaz Sharif-led government in Islamabad that prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement was prohibited under international human rights law and sought immediate action.
However, the Pakistani PM's spokesperson, Mosharraf Zaidi, denied the allegations by Imran's sons. Zaidi told Sky News that the former PM had been in prison for 860 days and had 870 visits, despite being allowed one visit per week.
