PTI founder’s son says denying prisoners’ children the right to meet their father is collective punishment
Kasim Khan, son of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday, urging the body to intervene and press the Pakistan government for the immediate release of his father.
“We ask this Council and the OHCHR to call on Pakistan to end this persecution immediately. They must comply with the UN Working Group’s opinion and they must release my father,” Kasim said during the 61st session of the UNHRC.
Imran has been imprisoned since August 2023 and is currently serving a sentence in Adiala prison in a £190m corruption case. He also faces pending proceedings under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) related to the May 9, 2023 protests.
The brothers have not seen their father since November 2022, after he survived an assassination attempt. They said they applied for a visa in January this year but have yet to receive a response.
Read more: Imran’s sons do not need visas to visit Pakistan
In his speech at the UNHRC, Kasim described his father’s prolonged detention and revealed that Imran has been kept in a small cell designed for isolation under constant surveillance for more than two and a half years.
“We go months without any contact and the last time I spoke to him was a short phone call. When we recently tried to travel to Pakistan to visit him, the government deliberately refused to process our visas,” he said. “To deny a prisoner’s children the right to see him is collective punishment. From the limited contact we had, I know my father is suffering,” he said.
He stressed that his father’s case was not isolated, but rather part of a much wider pattern of repression in Pakistan since 2022. He also branded the 2024 elections “rigged”, claiming they were designed to prevent his father’s political project from taking over.
Citing Pakistan’s commitment under the GSP-plus framework to uphold international human rights conventions, Kasim pointed to numerous violations, including the arbitrary detention of his father, his solitary confinement, denial of medical care, blocking of family visits and the trial of civilians in military courts. “Each of these violates these treaty obligations,” he said.
He further stated that he and his brother were not political people. “But my father’s life demands that we take action. We cannot stand by as his health deteriorates and he is kept away from us. It is the least we can do for him,” he added.
Read also: Imran’s sons express concern about his health in prison
Imran was allowed to call his sons from Rawalpindi’s Adial Jail on Eid day. The jailed PTI founder spoke to his children for about 25 to 30 minutes. During the conversation, the sons inquired about their father’s health, while Imran expressed his joy at being able to speak with them on the festive occasion.
The PTI founder was taken out of the compound to a special room for the call and after the conversation was taken back to the compound.
Last week, Jemima Goldsmith, Imran’s ex-wife, appealed directly to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to allow their sons, Kasim and Sulaiman, to visit their father in prison.
In response, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that Imran’s sons do not require visas to visit Pakistan to meet their father, to which Jemima replied that the government was denying visas to their sons, in an attempt to deprive them of British protection in the event of a possible arrest on arrival in Pakistan.
