Pakistan court allows Imran Khan to speak with the sons on phone

Imran Khan's sons - Sulaiman Khan and Qasim Khan - live in the UK with his ex-wife Jemima whom he divorced in 2004

Islamabad: A special court in Pakistan on Wednesday granted permission to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan to have a phone conversation with his two sons.

Khan’s sons – Sulaiman Khan and Qasim Khan – live in the UK with his ex-wife Jemima whom he divorced in 2004.

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Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain who took up a petition seeking directives to the Adiala jail officials to allow Khan to contact his sons, ordered the jail superintendent to let the former premier make a phone call to “family members (sons)”.

Khan, 71, has been in the Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi after he was shifted there on September 26 from the District Jail Attock where he was taken after arrest on August 5 following conviction in the Toshakhana case.

The 71-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman was arrested in August after a case was filed against him for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act by disclosing a secret diplomatic cable (cipher) sent by the country’s embassy in Washington in March last year.

The court last week declared that Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would be indicted during the next hearing on October 17, which would mark the official start of the trial. However, on Tuesday, the Special Court had adjourned till October 23 the indictment of Khan and his close aide Qureshi.

The ousted prime minister had submitted a plea to the special court on September 11, seeking contempt of court against Attock jail superintendent who refused to allow him to speak with his sons, despite court orders issued previously on the issue.

Khan was earlier granted permission by the special court to speak to his sons. However, he in the petition sought contempt of court proceedings against the Attock jail superintendent for violating the court’s order.

Ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022, Khan was incarcerated on August 5 this year, after an Islamabad court sentenced him to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief was lodged in the Attock District Jail to serve his prison term. Later, his sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court, but then, he was arrested in the cipher case and remained in the Attock jail on judicial remand.

The case was registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in August, which presented the charge-sheet against Khan and Qureshi on September 30.

Khan has complained about lack of facilities in the jail and during today’s hearing, Judge Zulqarnain stated that he had already directed the jail officials to provide a cycle to Khan for the purpose of exercise.