Former prime minister Imran Khna’s life was in danger, his wife Bushra Bibi said on Saturday as the couple’s legal battles after the May 9 events continue.
“He [Imran Khan] had been poisoned earlier as well. I am putting all these statements on record because I don’t know whether I will survive,” she told reporters in an informal conversation at the Adiala Jail.
Khan was rearrested in over a dozen May 9 cases after a court overturned his conviction in the “unlawful marriage case” last week. The couple is also facing a new state gifts case. The former prime minister and his party have described such developments as “politically motivated” cases.
On Monday, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore approved a 10-day physical remand of Khan in several May 9 cases. At the state gifts case hearing, he urged the accountability judge to imprison him and free his wife. “You are answerable to Allah, not the ISI,” Khan told the judge.
According to Bibi, police “dragged” Khan, covering his face with a cloth, following his arrest eight days earlier. She stated that during their meeting at the Attock Jail, the conditions were deplorable, with Khan being kept in a cell infested with insects.
She claimed that thieves, dacoits, and other criminals were given “VIP treatment”. She alleged that they were not allowed to contact Barrister Ali Zafar, a prominent PTI leader.
Bibi expressed her willingness to take an oath, stating that “all the cases against the PTI leadership are based on falsehoods.” She challenged the authorities to also take an oath, confirming that the cases were not built on lies.
The former first lady has alleged that she was subjected to coercion and mistreatment by authorities.
Bibi claimed that she was pressured to leave jail after the court’s verdict, but upon doing so, she was immediately re-arrested by the National Accountability Bureau officials. She further claimed that a female officer had even pushed her before the arrest.
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Earlier this month a UN panel of experts found Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office”.
“Thus, from the outset, that prosecution was not grounded in law and was reportedly instrumentalised for a political purpose,” it said, calling for his immediate release after nearly a year in jail.
Candidates loyal to Khan won the most seats in the national election, but were kept from government by an alliance of rival parties.
Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted by a no-confidence vote.
