Bushra urges SC to take notice of ‘decline’ in PTI chairman’s health in jail

Former prime minister Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi on Friday urged the Supreme Court to take “serious notice” of the alleged threat to her husband’s life during his incarceration, citing a considerable decline in his health during a meeting with him in Attock jail.

She made the request in an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court through her representative Advocate Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah today, which recounted her meeting with her husband on August 22.

It comes after similar concerns were raised by her in a letter to the Punjab government last week, in which she voiced fears that her husband could be “poisoned” in Attock jail.

On Aug 5, an Islamabad trial court had convicted Imran in a case pertaining to concealing details of state gifts and sentenced him to three years in prison. Soon after the verdict, he was arrested by the Punjab police from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore and taken to the prison in Attock.

In the affidavit submitted, it was highlighted that Bushra was allowed to meet Imran “after unwarranted delays and difficulties” on Aug 22, 2023, at the Attock jail.

It added that “during the course of the meeting, the petitioner expressed his determination to stand for the Constitution and Rule of Law in Pakistan and to offer any sacrifice and suffer any privation or hardship for his beloved country”.

The affidavit stated that during her meeting, Bushra “found a significant decline in the petitioner’s health” and that he “appears to have lost weight substantially during the course of his confinement, particularly loss of muscles around his arms”.

“Such a decline in the health of a person in his 70s can be a serious danger to his life,” it added.

“That without going into details and keeping in view the totality of circumstances observed by the deponent, it is feared that the petitioner’s life is seriously threatened for which it is humbly prayed that this honourable court may kindly take serious notice of the same”, the affidavit concluded.

This is not the first time Bushra has expressed fear of her husband’s life in danger.

In a letter dated August 17, addressed to the Punjab home secretary, Imran’s wife had sought the ex-PM’s transfer from District Jail Attock to Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail and expressed fear he could be poisoned in lock-up.

According to the letter, the life of the ex-prime minister was in danger as “he was previously attacked twice whereby once he was hit by bullets shots (sic) on his body.”

“Moreover it is apprehended that he may be poisoned in the jail through food as the ones responsible and perpetrators of previous attacks are still at large and have not been captured by the law enforcement agencies,” Bushra had feared.

Meanwhile, the PTI chief has appealed his jail sentence in both the Islamabad High Court and the Supreme Court. On Aug 23, the Supreme Court had acknowledged “procedural defects” in the August 5 conviction of Imran in the Toshakhana reference but opted to wait for the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision on a plea seeking suspension of the three-year sentence to the former prime minister.

The IHC adjourned its proceedings till Monday after the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) lawyer skipped the hearing over illness.