Imran's sons claim father facing 'awful conditions in death cell,' hint at Pakistan visit soon

• Sulaiman says electricity to Imran's cell cut off sometimes.
• Terms rumours of ex-PM's death "incredibly stressful".
• Conditions "getting worse", "very hard to see a way out": Kasim
  

Jailed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan's sons have claimed that their father is imprisoned in Adiala jail’s death cell, where he is facing “awful” conditions.

"The [jail] conditions are awful," said Kasim while speaking during an interview alongside his brother Sulaiman with Sky News.

"It's been described as a death cell. The cell that he's in is because [...] I think inmates who have been put on death row have been put in these small cells with barely any light," added Sulaiman.

Sulaiman further claimed that the electricity to Imran's cell is also cut off sometimes, along with the provision of dirty water and that his father was being subjected to "substandard conditions that don't meet international law for any prisoner".

Imran, the ousted prime minister, has been behind bars for more than two years. His incarceration, however, has consistently proved to be a flashpoint with the government as PTI protests, including scuffles with police and jail staff, continue over meetings with the ex-PM.

Last week, the police forcefully ended an hours-long sit-in staged by Imran's sisters outside the Adiala facility in an attempt to meet their incarcerated brother with the police saying that the official meeting hours had ended.

In November, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi staged a 16-hour sit-in outside the facility.

The last meeting with the jailed ex-PM was held on December 2 where his sister Uzma was allowed to meet him after the former ruling party raised concerns for his health and even threatened to hold a protest outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and then march towards the jail.

Amid all this hullabaloo, the government, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry and adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah, hinted at transferring Imran to any other prison — a possibility denied by the Adiala jail administration, which has maintained that no such proposal was on the table.

Meanwhile, during the interview with Imran's sons, the Sky News' journalist asked about their reaction on rumours circulating regarding the PTI founder's death, which Sulaiman termed "incredibly stressful".

"I went straight on to kind of my family group chat because that's the only contact reliable source that we have on the ground in Pakistan," he added.

Expanding on his brother's comments, Kasim said that it was "obviously very jarring and obviously pulls you out of whatever you're trying to do in your normal life [...] especially how helpless we are over here, not able to do much at all".

Sulaiman further added that during this time, their aunt, Uzma, reassured them that their father was well and seemed healthy, "but was furious about the conditions he'd been kept in".

Furthermore, when asked about the possibility of visiting Pakistan to meet their father, Kasim said that he and his brother were in fact planning to visit the country "unless they [government] go against their word again" — of allowing them to visit.

"We should be hopefully going in January. We we applied for our visas but it hasn't come through yet. We're expecting it to come through," Kasim added.

This is not the first time that Kasim and Sulaiman's purported visit to Pakistan has been in the news, as back in July Aleema said that the brothers intended to join the party's protest movement back then.

At the time, Minister of State for Interior Talal had assured that Imran's sons will be issued visas or National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) if they require them.

He said that if the tracking number of their visa application is shared with him, he will personally ensure that any issue is resolved.

Responding to a question what they would say to Imran upon meeting him and whether would ask him to cut a deal to secure freedom, Kasim said that: "What you have to understand is it's his life".

"And so if he just took a deal and came over to us and lived in England, I know there would be this kind burning desire and this aching that would that he's you know has left his country for dead."

"As much as we'd love to have our father watching all of our kind of cricket matches or football matches over here, he has a purpose which is far greater. So, you can only respect it. What else would you would you say to him?" remarked Kasim.

'Very hard to see a way out'

To a question concerning what they want from the international community and US President Donald Trump in light of the relationship between Islamabad and Washington, Sulaiman said: "I think at minimum just to make sure that...the standards of international human rights are being upheld and right now they're clearly being violated".

"Essentially, we just want to ensure that basic human rights for our father are being respected," he added, while Kasim stressed the implementation of court orders, respect for the rule of law and allowing Imran to see his personal physician.

Sulaiman further said that they want "independent monitoring" of their father's condition as they had no idea what it's like until someone visits and speaks to him.

When asked about whether they see a way out for their father, Kasim said that the conditions were "getting worse".

"It's very hard to see a way out, and a lot of the people we speak to, the advisers are seeming less and less confident every time we speak to them," he lamented.

Sulaiman further noted that the international pressure was an effective way of forcing change in these situations and said that they were looking to do more advocacy, including possible trips to Brussels and or Geneva in January to speak to politicians and officials about their father's situation.

It is pertinent to know that both Sulaiman and Kasim have been advocating for their father's release and even met US President Trump's aide Richard Grenell back in July, drawing attention to the ex-PM's imprisonment.