Imran’s son Kasim raises father’s case at UNHRC, decries his treatment in jail

Kasim Khan, the son of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan, raised his father’s case at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Wednesday, saying that the former prime minister’s treatment by authorities was in violation of international human rights conventions.

Imran — imprisoned since 2023 for concealing details of Toshakhana gifts — is serving a 14-year sentence at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail in the £190 million corruption case.

Meanwhile, his party and family have alleged that he is being kept in solitary confinement — with a restriction on visitors being allowed to meet him in jail — and have repeatedly raised concerns over his medical treatment after it surfaced in January that he suffered an eye ailment.

At a UNHRC session, Kasim said Imran’s case was not an “isolated incident”. In fact, he claimed, it was the “most visible example of a much wider pattern of repression in Pakistan since 2022”. In this connection, he mentioned the detention of political prisoners, trial and conviction of civilians by military courts and journalists being “silenced, abducted or driven into exile”.

He also briefly mentioned the February 2024 general elections, reiterating the PTI’s allegations that they were rigged.

Kasim noted that Pakistan had made binding commitments under the GSP+ framework to uphold international human rights conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations Convention against Torture.

He claimed that Imran’s detention was arbitrary and that he was being kept in solitary confinement. Kasim further mentioned that there was a bar on his family visiting him and also alleged the “denial of medical care” to him. This, along with the trial of civilians in military courts, violated those treaty obligations, he said.

Ending his short address, he said, “My brother and I are not political people. We never wanted to come before bodies like this. [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. If the situation were reversed, we know he would not stop fighting until we were free. That is the very least we can do for him.”

On Sunday, Kasim also shared a message by Imran on the social media platform X. The message came after Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that Imran would be allowed to speak to his children on Eidul Fitr.

Kasim said he had spoken to Imran on Saturday, who had then asked for a message to be relayed. In the message shared by Kasim, Imran assailed the judiciary, saying that they had “sold their integrity”.

Kasim and his older brother Sulaiman live in London with their mother and will have to travel to Pakistan to meet Imran.

The two had said in December 2025 that they had applied for their visas and were planning a trip to Pakistan in January. However, reports emerged last month, alleging that the government was refusing to grant Imran’s sons visas. At the same time, Kasim had alleged that the government was “deliberately” refusing to process his and his brother’s visas.

Earlier this week, Tarar said that Kasim and Sulaiman were “welcome” to visit Pakistan on their National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (Nicop). However, a day later their mother and Imran’s ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith alleged that the government was recommending that they travel to Pakistan on Nicops as they would have “no British protection”.

Meanwhile, concerns have mounted among Imran’s party and family members after partial vision loss in Imran’s right eye was reported via his lawyer after he met him last month. Doctors later confirmed that, with glasses, the PTI founder had 6/9 partial vision in the right eye.

On Monday, Imran underwent a third eye procedure at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). In a statement issued by the hospital, the PTI founder was brought to Pims for a third dose of an anti-VEGF intra-vitreal injection.

Meanwhile, Imran’s family and personal doctors want him to be admitted to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad and have been demanding that his personal physicians be provided access to him.

The government and the opposition have also been engaged in a blame game, with the latter accusing the former of a lack of transparency on the matter, not ensuring appropriate treatment for Imran and not allowing his personal physicians to access him. The government denies these allegations.