PTI founder’s son says denying prisoners’ children the right to meet their fathers is collective punishment
Kasim Khan, son of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, on Wednesday addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), urging the body to intervene and put pressure on the Pakistani government for the immediate release of his father.
“We call on this council and the OHCHR to urge Pakistan to immediately end this persecution. They must comply with the advice of the UN working group and 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 £190 million corruption case. He also faces ongoing trials 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 not yet received a response.
Learn more: Imran’s sons do not need visa to travel to Pakistan
In his speech to the UNHRC, Kasim described his father’s prolonged detention, revealing that Imran had been held in a small cell designed for solitary confinement 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 brief phone call. When we recently tried to travel to Pakistan to visit him, the government deliberately refused to process our visas,” he said. “Denying a prisoner’s children the right to see him is collective punishment. From the limited contact we have had, I know that my father is suffering,” he said.
He stressed that his father’s case was not isolated, but rather part of a much larger system of oppression in Pakistan since 2022. He also called the 2024 elections “rigged”, saying they were aimed at preventing his father’s political project from taking over.
Referring to Pakistan’s commitment under GSP-plus to respect international human rights conventions, Kasim highlighted several violations, including his father’s arbitrary detention, solitary confinement, denial of medical care, blocking of family visits and trial of civilians in military courts. “Each of these elements violates these treaty obligations,” he said.
He added that he and his brother were not politicians. “But my father’s life demands that we act. We cannot stand idly by while 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 worry about his health in prison
Imran was allowed to call his sons from Adial Prison in Rawalpindi on Eid. The imprisoned PTI founder spoke to his children for around 25-30 minutes. During the conversation, the sons inquired about their father’s health, while Imran expressed his joy at being able to speak to them on the occasion of the celebration.
The PTI founder was taken out of the compound to a special room for the call and, after the conversation, was brought back into the compound.
Last week, Jemima Goldsmith, Imran’s ex-wife, made a direct appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to allow her sons, Kasim and Sulaiman, to visit their father in prison.
In response, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that Imran’s sons did not need visas to travel to Pakistan to meet their father, to which Jemima responded that the government was denying visas to their sons, in an attempt to deprive them of British protection in the event of possible arrest upon arrival in Pakistan.
