Imran Khan: how did a national hero become a 'political prisoner'?

**Zulfikar Bukhari** (0:02)
This is a Global Production.

**Christiane Amanpour** (0:04)
This week marks three years since he's been, to all intents and purposes, in solitary confinement in a prison in Pakistan. Dreadful conditions, people are worried about his health. Did you ever imagine that he would be in prison for this long, and that you would be so utterly cut off from him for this long?

**Kasim Khan** (0:23)
Now it's been around five months since we've last spoken to him, and he was being poorly treated with a serious condition last time. I just can only hope that nothing else has gone wrong in there. These are crooked people, they're criminals, who have no respect for rule of law and no honor.

**Jamie Rubin** (0:41)
I don't see President Trump changing gears on the Pakistani question. I think he likes having this new relationship with the Pakistani Chief of Staff. I think he likes that it's a military leader. He likes that sort of thing.

**Christiane Amanpour** (1:00)
Hello everyone, it's the latest episode of The Ex Files with me Christiane Amanpour in London and Jamie who's in the United States. But today and this week we have something different for you. What we're going to do is talk about the story of the legendary cricketer Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan. As some people have said, he's arguably the most famous Pakistani since the state was created nearly 80 years ago. So this week marks three years since he's been to all intents and purposes in solitary confinement in a prison in Pakistan. Dreadful conditions, people are worried about his health, people are worried about the fact that he's pretty much unable to see family or legal teams. It takes a huge amount to try to get to him. Many of his family members clearly and his supporters and what remains of his political party believe that the charges he's facing are both spurious and also politically motivated. So today I'm going to start by talking to Imran's youngest son, Kasim Khan. Now, fair disclosure, I'm a friend of the families, I know Kasim's mother, I know Imran is a journalist, I have interviewed him several times, and I know the children since they were little. In fact, Kasim and Suleiman are good friends of our son Darius. Afterwards, after my interview with Kasim, Jamie is going to join me and talk with me to Zulfikar Bukhari, who was a former member of Imran's team.
He was a close advisor and now he's leading the campaign for him as he's in jail. Let's just go over a few of the highlights. As I said, Imran is a legend in Pakistan and in the cricketing world, all over the place. He brought Pakistan to World Club Cricket Glory back in 1992 He's a philanthropist. He built a hospital in memory of his mother. He raised a educational facility for the underprivileged. Then he wanted to get into politics and he joined, or rather he created, the Pakistan Movement for Justice. Eventually, that was based on anti-corruption and welfare for the poor and bringing education and basically trying to cater to people who, he said, had been left out of the political realm through Pakistan's history.
In 2018, he was elected prime minister, but by 2022, he had fallen afoul, including fallen afoul of probably the military establishment, which had helped him by agreeing to his election. Nothing really happens in Pakistan without the agreement of the military. And in 2022, he faced a vote of no confidence in parliament. He was dismissed as prime minister, and then his legal battles started. He was arrested in 2023, basically, and ever since then, he has been in prison, and he faces a slew, a slew of charges, legal charges ranging from state gift corruption to leaking state secrets. And of course, he and his team say that these are untrue, and that they are just political charges. He's still in jail, so we're going to explore this. Can he get out of jail? What would be the avenue? What would be the legal way to get him out? But first, as I said, I'm going to speak to Kasim, the human side of what it is to have your father, the former prime minister of Pakistan, in jail and to hardly be able to contact him, much less see him. Kasim, welcome to this podcast.
I've already said that I'm a friend of your families, that I've known you since you were a kid, that you're a good friend of Darius and our son. And so I want to have a very personal son, father discussion with you.
It's been a long time since you've been separated from your dad and this really horrible anniversary is happening. I want to know, did you ever imagine that he would be in prison for this long and that you would be so, so utterly cut off from him for this long?