Imran tells court 'fearful for his life'

PTI chief says afraid he will meet 'same fate' as 'Maqsood Chaprasi' as he is presented before accountability court

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan told an accountability court on Wednesday that he was fearful for his life.

"I have not been to the washroom in 24 hours," the former prime minister said during the proceedings of the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which he was arrested a day earlier.

The PTI chief requested the court to grant his personal physician Dr Faisal Sultan access to him. "I am afraid I will meet the same fate as 'Maqsood Chaprasi'," Imran said in reference to an alleged key witness in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's money laundering case who passed away due to a cardiac arrest last year. The PTI had termed the witness' death 'mysterious'.

"They give [you] an injection, and [you] slowly die," the ex-premier said.

Imran was presented before the accountability court today, after being arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the Al-Qadir Trust case a day earlier.

During today's hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) requested a 14-day physical remand of the PTI chief.

Read Imran’s arrest is legal, rules IHC

Accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir heard the case at the New Police Guest House, wherein the NAB presented reasons behind the former prime minister's arrest.

However, Imran's legal team opposed NAB's request. His lawyer Khawaja Harris maintained that the PTI chief will cooperate in the investigation and that there was "no need for a physical remand".

The court reserved its verdict after listening to the arguments of the PTI chief's counsel.

In a startling development a day earlier, PTI chairman and deposed premier Imran Khan was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case from the premises of the IHC, where he was present for two hearings.

Video clips broadcast on TV channels showed Imran – who had been using a wheelchair since being shot during an assassination attempt last year – being manhandled by dozens of security personnel into an armoured vehicle inside the court premises.

The Islamabad police issued a statement quoting the federal capital’s police chief Akbar Nasir saying that the PTI chairman had been arrested in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case, which alleged that Imran and his wife, Bushra Bibi, acquired billions of rupees from a real estate company for legalising a laundered amount of Rs60 billion, which was identified and returned to Pakistan by the UK while the former premier was in power.