Jailed former Pakistan prime minister and cricket great Imran Khan's sons, Sulaiman and Kasim, have expressed fears for their father's safety in prison, saying "blatant" attempts are being made to "kill him in there".
The brothers made the remarks during an 18-minute interview with former England captain Mike Atherton for Sky Sports. Atherton is among 21 international cricket greats who recently signed a letter to the Pakistan government demanding proper medical care for Imran.
"It's very, very clear what they're doing, which is they're just blatantly trying to kill him in there. They just want to keep him in there as long as possible and hopefully just silence him," said Kasim, voicing grave concerns about the current state of his 73-year-old father.
"The last time he was able to speak to our aunties and anyone else, he said the conditions have severely worsened recently. He has been relating it to other political prisoners who have been killed or who have died in prison.
"Right now, it is worse than ever, completely isolating him more than 23 hours a day in a cell," he added.
The interview, aired during the lunch break of the second Test between England and Pakistan at Lord's on Thursday, triggered a protest from the visiting team's cricket board, which threatened to pull its players out of the match, according to well-placed sources.
The PCB eventually filed a complaint with the broadcaster, expressing displeasure at the telecast.
Besides being a politician, Imran is an iconic figure in international cricket, having led Pakistan to its first and only ODI World Cup triumph in 1992.
He recently underwent a medical examination on the instructions of Pakistan's Supreme Court. He was taken to Shifa Hospital in Islamabad before being shifted back to prison within hours of the check-up.
Sulaiman said Imran had not been examined by independent doctors.
"... it just makes us think, what are they hiding? Why are they so fearful of allowing him to get reported on by an unbiased, neutral doctor?" Sulaiman said.
"We were cautiously optimistic (when court ordered medical check-up). Our fears were confirmed when, instead of being taken to the private hospital, where he was meant to be taken, he was just taken to a government medical facility for a few hours, and then taken straight back to jail," he alleged.
"He had an eye patch on for the eye situation, seemed visibly stressed, and that is something that is very hard for us to imagine because he embodies a very calm, assured presence, every time I have ever seen him, including being at gunpoint. A car we were in was robbed, and he was the calmest person there, including the robbers," he quipped.
The two brothers said they had not seen Imran in flesh and blood since 2022, when he survived an assassination attempt, and that their last telephonic conversation with him was in March this year.
Asked to share details of that call, they said Imran had sounded stoic despite the difficult circumstances.
Imran has been held at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail since 2023, after being found guilty of corruption charges by the country's courts.
The two brothers reiterated that their attempts to visit him were being actively thwarted by the denial of visas. "We tried to visit him. But the visas we applied for were blocked for technical reasons," Kasim said.
"...Well, there's (also) probably a small risk that we'd be arrested," added Sulaiman. "But ultimately, we just want to see him at this point...not to make any sort of noise and just minimal publicity," he added.
(With inputs from PTI)
