Islamabad, September 15, 2026: Seven former Australian cricket captains have written to Foreign Minister Penny Wong expressing concern over the incarceration of former Pakistan prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan, describing the issue as a matter of “basic humanity”, Cricinfo reported on Tuesday.
The signatories include Allan Border, Greg Chappell, Ian Chappell, Belinda Clark, Kim Hughes, Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh.
Imran Khan, 73, has been in prison since 2023 and was sentenced last year, along with his wife, to 17 years in a corruption case. Both deny the charges. According to the report, the former captains said they were writing “not as diplomats or political figures, but as former captains who felt compelled to speak up”.
They made clear that they were taking no position on the legal or political case against Imran Khan, describing that as a matter for Pakistan. Their concern, they said, was the treatment of any person in detention, calling it “a matter of basic humanity, whatever their politics”.
A spokesperson for Wong told the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia “regularly raises” Imran Khan’s case in discussions with Pakistan. “We continue to encourage authorities to ensure appropriate medical care is available to him,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Last month, 22 international cricketers, including the Chappell brothers, Border, Waugh, Clark and Hughes, appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for Imran Khan to receive medical treatment in accordance with Supreme Court directives.
On August 18, the Supreme Court directed the government to transfer Imran Khan to Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital within two days for examination and treatment by a multidisciplinary medical board. However, he was subsequently taken to the government-run Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).
In February, Indian cricket greats Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev joined a group of former international captains, including the Chappell brothers, Border, Waugh, Clark and Hughes, in calling for better prison treatment for Imran Khan, whom they described as one of the finest all-rounders in cricket.
The government, meanwhile, has maintained that Imran Khan’s imprisonment is “governed by the Pakistan Prison Rules, applicable judicial directions and security arrangements appropriate to a high-profile prisoner”.
It has also rejected allegations that he is being subjected to “punitive solitary confinement, cruelty or deprivation”.
