Cricket great Wasim Akram has urged authorities to give Imran Khan, jailed former captain and ex-prime minister, “fair treatment”.
His comment came on the ‘Old Boys, New Balls’ podcast, co-hosted by former England captain Ian Botham. “We would like to thank all the captains that recently signed a petition for Imran,” he said.
“I feel for [the] skipper, I miss him as a friend, I miss him as a mentor, we miss him as a leader. We haven’t seen his picture for three years,” added the left-arm pacer, who was a key member of the Pakistan team led by Imran that won the 1992 World Cup in Australia.
“What we want from this government is to give him [Imran] the fair treatment, like other politicians had before,” he said.
“Fingers crossed, Inshallah the whole nation is behind him and he’ll be out [soon].”
Imran, 73, has been imprisoned since 2023. He was sentenced late last year along with his wife to 17 years on corruption charges they both deny.
During lunch on the first day of the recent second Test between England and Pakistan at Lord’s, Sky Sports broadcast an interview conducted by former England captain Michael Atherton with Imran’s sons, Kasim and Sulaiman. During the interview, they criticised their father’s treatment by Pakistani authorities in stark terms.
Some reports suggested the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was so angered by the broadcast that it considered refusing to let the team take the field after the interval. No boycott ensued, however, and the match continued as scheduled. Pakistan eventually lost by 194 runs to go 2-0 down in the three-match series.
In August, Atherton was one of a group of 21 former international cricket captains, including India’s Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, who pleaded for Imran to be treated humanely and with “basic human consideration” by Pakistani authorities.
