Pakistan's jailed former PM Khan's sons told DW the authorities are cracking down ahead of new PTI protests

Family members of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan are concerned about the 73-year-old's health in a Rawalpindi prison, accusing authorities of preventing him from accessing appropriate medical care.

Khan's London-based sons, Sulaiman and Kasim Khan, told DW they have received "little to no information" about their father's health condition.

"When we last spoke to him on the phone back in March, he said that he had lost 85% of the vision in his right eye and that despite his complaints, it was neglected for months," they said.

The brothers added that their father was being held in a tiny cell and has been allowed outside for only one or two hours a day. They also allege that the elder Khan was kept in isolation from family , lawyers, and a personal physician for 10 months before he was briefly allowed to see two of his sisters.

This comes amid the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party's planned protest march on September 27 to exert pressure on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government for Khan's release.

Khan's sons are urging authorities to allow their father to receive an independent medical assessment and restore regular access to his family and medical team.

"We are asking the Pakistani authorities to obey the Supreme Court orders immediately and shift our father to Shifa International Hospital so that he can be assessed by independent doctors," they said.

They also called for Khan to be allowed his mandated family visits, phone calls with his sons, and access to a personal physician.