According to sources in the Attock jail who witnessed the meeting between the ex-prime minister and his legal advisor, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan told his lawyers that he does not want to remain in prison.
According to sources, Khan, who was charged with corruption in the Toshakhana case and sentenced to three years in prison, is unhappy and worried as he remains imprisoned in “distressing” conditions.
“Take me out of here; I don’t want to remain in jail,” the officials quoted Imran Khan, as saying during his meeting with his lawyers.
The jail authorities granted Khan’s counsel Naeem Haider Panjotha access Monday to meet with him, and after seeing the PTI chairman, he stated that the former premier was being held in “distressing” conditions with “C-Class jail facilities.”
Panjotha went on to say that despite the difficulties, the PTI chief was upbeat and vowed to spend his life in prison rather than submit to slavery.
According to sources, during the meeting with his lawyer, the PTI chairman expressed his concerns about the prison environment, with flies taking over his cell during the day and insects at night.
The former prime minister was arrested at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore after being convicted in the Toshakhana case on charges of misusing his premiership from 2018 to 2022 to buy and sell gifts in state possession worth more than Rs140 million ($635,000).
Khan denies the allegations against him.
“Charges of misdeclaration of assets have been proven against the PTI chairman,” Additional and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar mentioned in his judgment.
Judge Dilawar sentenced the PTI chief to three-year imprisonment, issuing arrest warrants against him and a fine of Rs100,000.
Khan’s petition to have the case dismissed was also denied by the judge.
The former prime minister’s party, which was removed from office after a no-confidence motion was filed against him in April 2022, has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the trial court’s decision, claiming that Judge Dilawar’s verdict was “null and void.”
The PTI has also petitioned Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq for Khan’s transfer from Attock to Adiala.
