No indication of Imran Khan being poisoned in jail, says his personal physician

Imran Khan's personal physician on Thursday said that there is no apparent indication that Pakistan's jailed former prime minister is being subjected to 'slow poison' in prison.

Dr Faisal Sultan made the comments after meeting with 71-year-old Khan in Adiala Jail, where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran chairman is being held in connection with the cipher case.

The physician told reporters that Khan's health and diet were both satisfactory and the ousted premier voiced no complaints on the issue, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.

''Perhaps he (Khan) had expressed some concerns regarding his health earlier and those are now being misquoted,'' said Dr Sultan, clarifying that no such symptoms were detected in the physical examination now.

Meanwhile, Khan's lawyer Hamid Khan told the media that the party and its supporters were all concerned about his health given the attacks on his life earlier, the paper reported.

He expressed regret that convicted leaders of other political parties were enjoying state protocol while Khan was being subjected to distress and judicial harassment.

Earlier, Rawalpindi Police recorded Khan's statement in connection with the May 9 violence cases in the presence of his senior lawyer.

Dr Sultan was allowed to meet with the jailed premier inside the prison premises after the statement was recorded and conduct a physical examination.

The doctor's comments came a day after Khan's lawyer Shiraz Ahmad Ranjha rebutted speculation that he was being slowly poisoned in prison.

Ranjha categorically refuted all such claims, terming them baseless, the paper said.

Meanwhile, a special court on Thursday allowed Khan's co-accused and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to be relocated to a hospital after his condition reportedly deteriorated, the paper said.

Justice Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain - hearing the cipher case against Qureshi and Khan - granted permission at the request of prison authorities. The jail authorities informed the judge that he should be allowed to move as per the doctor's recommendation.

The 67-year-old former foreign minister was not immediately being transferred to the hospital, Qureshi’s counsel Taimur Malik said, adding that the permission was taken as a precautionary measure and he will be transferred if his condition worsens.

Khan was arrested in August after a case was filed against him for disclosing a secret diplomatic cable (cipher) sent by the country’s embassy in Washington in March last year. A special court last month indicted him along with his close ally Qureshi in the case.

The case is about a document sent by Pakistan's embassy in Washington in March 2022 that Khan tried to use for political purposes by saying that it was proof of a foreign conspiracy to orchestrate his ouster from power in April last year.

Khan, who served as prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to April 2022, is accused of misusing the contents of the cipher to build a narrative that his government was ousted due to a conspiracy hatched by the US, a charge denied by Washington.

Khan and Qureshi have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on September 30 presented the charge sheet against Khan and Qureshi who signed its copies. The FIA invoked in the charge sheet sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act which may lead to a death sentence, or two to 14 years’ imprisonment if convicted.

Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. He was incarcerated on August 5 this year, after an Islamabad court sentenced him to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case. The 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. He was later shifted to Adiala jail. More than 150 cases have been registered against Khan since his ouster from power in April last year.