As court-ordered prison visits stay blocked and rumours swirl about possible prison transfers, his son, Kasim Khan, told Reuters the family has had no direct or verifiable contact with Khan, despite a judicial order for weekly meetings.
“Not knowing whether your father is safe, injured or even alive is a form of psychological torture,” he said in written remarks, adding that there had been no independently confirmed communication for a couple of months.
“Today we have no verifiable information at all about his condition,” the son continued, stating, “Our greatest fear is that something irreversible is being hidden from us.”
The family has repeatedly sought access for Khan’s personal physician, who has not been allowed to examine him for more than a year, he added.
Pakistan’s interior ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a jail official told Reuters that Khan was in good health, adding that he was not aware of any plan for a move to a higher-security facility.
Khan, 72, has been in jail since August 2023, convicted in a string of cases that he says were politically driven following his ouster in a 2022 parliamentary vote.
His first conviction centred on accusations that he unlawfully sold gifts received in office, in a proceeding widely referred to as the Toshakhana case.
Later verdicts added lengthy jail terms, including 10 years on accusations of leaking a diplomatic cable and 14 years in a separate graft case tied to the Al-Qadir Trust, a charity project prosecutors say figured in improper land deals.
