Imran's sons express concerns about father's health in fresh interview with CNN

The sons of ex-prime minister Imran Khan, Kasim and Sulaiman, have reiterated concerns about their incarcerated father’s health in a fresh interview with CNN published on Thursday.

Their interview comes as the PTI marked three years since Imran was imprisoned on Aug 5, 2023 for concealing details of Toshakhana gifts. After his eye ailment came to light in January, the PTI founder’s family and party leaders have repeatedly voiced concerns over a lack of access to him.

In the CNN interview, Kasim and Sulaiman said they had “no updates because his (Imran’s) family, doctors [and] lawyers haven’t been allowed to see him for seven months”.

“Been more in the dark than we’ve ever been through his incarceration,” Kasim said, noting the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order for a phone call between them every two weeks.

Speaking to CNN from London, the duo claimed that each time they speak to the media about their father, Pakistani authorities made it harder for them to see him by allegedly delaying their visas or bogging them down with other administrative issues.

“We’re trying, we’d like to go, but nothing’s coming through,” Kasim said. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t be accepted for a visa.”

While the government has previously said that Kasim and Sulaiman were “welcome” to visit Pakistan on their National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (Nicop), Imran’s sons said those cards have expired.

“So we’re not able to go by those, and the visa has never come; there were technical difficulties,” Kasim said.

CNN also quoted the information ministry as saying that Kasim and Sulaiman had Nicops, which meant they did not require visas to enter Pakistan. The ministry said their claims were “misleading and appear to convert an administrative process into an issue of political point-scoring”.

The publication noted that the ministry did not address the duo’s claim that their Nicops had not been renewed.

Asked if there was a chance their father could reach a “deal with the government, the sons thought it unlikely”, CNN reported.

Sulaiman said Imran “wouldn’t [reach a deal that left] the other political prisoners in there … unless they were able to get some kind of resolution as well”.

Kasim expressed a similar opinion, though he added it was “hard to say”. “They’re refusing to show us any kind of health report. So his health may have deteriorated significantly since then,” he said.

Speaking on the charges against his father, Kasim termed them as “plain lies and deceit”.

Asked about his message to the world, Kasim said “anyone with the power to take action” should take notice of the situation, insisting that the majority of the people voted for Imran in the elections and he was “behind bars for no good reason”.

3 years behind bars

Imran was sent to jail on Aug 5, 2023 in the Toshakhana case. However, he is also serving a 14-year sentence in a £190 million corruption case, was convicted in another Toshakhana case in December 2025 and also faces pending trials in terrorism cases related to the May 9, 2023 riots.

Imran’s PTI held rallies in major cities yesterday to demand his release, with the gatherings in Karachi and Lahore met with police action and arrests.

Despite the IHC mandating meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Imran has not met his family or party leaders since his sister Uzma Khanum met him last December.

His eye ailment — right central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) — came to light in late January, for which the government has provided him treatment.

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

Imran’s sisters and opposition leaders have demanded that the former premier be shifted to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad, be treated in the presence of his personal physicians and allowed to meet his family.