Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's sons have urged US president Donald Trump and the international community to call for their father's release from a Pakistani prison.
British citizens Suleman Khan, 28, and Qasim Khan, 26, broke their silence for the first time to make a public appeal after “exhausting” legal and other routes.
Mr Khan, the 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician, has been lodged in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since 2023 after a court handed him a three-year sentence in a corruption case.
He faces some 150 charges in total, all of which his party says are politically motivated. The Tehreek-e-Insaf chief served as Pakistan's prime minister between 2018 and 2022 before being removed from office.
In an interview broadcast live on X with citizen journalist Mario Nawfal, Qasim Khan said: "We want the international community to take action and who better than [Donald] Trump.”
“We would love to speak to Trump and try and figure out a way where he would be able to help out." he said, adding they were trying to "bring democracy to Pakistan".
Both sons called Mr Khan their "hero" and added they had never "spoken before, but seeing what he’s going through, we couldn’t stay quiet".
When asked about US official Richard Grenell's call for their father's release, the brothers said they were grateful for all the "support he has shown".
Suleman Khan said: “In terms of a message to the Trump administration, we’d call for any government that supports free speech and proper democracy to join the call for our father’s release, and especially the most powerful leader in the world.”
The brothers accused the Pakistan government of punishing Mr Khan by keeping him in isolation and complete darkness following a pro-democracy protest that called for the former prime minister's release.
Mr Khan has no "access to the outside world, no access to doctors, and has been in prolonged solitary confinement", his elder son said. "Court mandates we speak to him once every week, but we speak to him once in two or three months."
Their mother, Jemima Goldsmith, last October accused the Shehbaz Sharif government of cutting his access to lawyers and family visitations and even severing electricity to his cell. "He is now completely isolated, in solitary confinement, literally in the dark, with no contact with the outside world,” the film producer, who was married to Khan from 1995 to 2004, said in a post on X.
Qasim Khan reiterated his mother's concerns, adding Mr Khan was "there for 10 days in the pitch black". He said the family wanted "international pressure" on Pakistan because their father is "currently living in inhumane conditions".
"They are not giving him [Imran Khan] basic human rights," Qasim Khan said. "It is basically for human rights of not only our father but also other political prisoners and the restoration of proper democracy in Pakistan."
Mr Khan's political party, earlier in May, petitioned the court for his urgent release from jail, claiming he could potentially be targeted in drone strikes during Pakistan's military standoff with India. His party said a plea had been filed in the Islamabad High Court to seek his release on parole during a “national emergency” as India and Pakistan’s military exchanged volleys of drones and shells.
Both nations walked away from the brink of war following a ceasefire announcement this weekend.
Mr Khan's sons said they miss their father, but "what hurts more is seeing a nation lose the man who gave everything for it".
“He always told us 'if you stand for truth, you’ll pay a price. We’re seeing that now'."
Former UK environment minister Zac Goldsmith, in a post on X, praised his nephews for speaking up now for their father. "So proud of my nephews. They have never courted publicity," he said.
Mr Goldsmith added: "But they are speaking up now for their father Imran Khan – a hero for so many in Pakistan, an incorruptible leader who is being tortured by a desperate, corrupt and greedy establishment."
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