Ready To Stay In Jail For 1,000 Years If Necessary: Pak Ex-PM Imran Khan

Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Friday said he was ready to endure imprisonment even for 1,000 years and continue to stay incarcerated for his country, according to a media report.

Khan, 70, was sentenced to three years in jail by a sessions court on August 5 for hiding proceeds from the sale of state gifts (Toshakhana). He is currently incarcerated in Attock Jail in Punjab province.

A division bench, comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, will take up the hearing next Tuesday (August 22).

Speaking to reporters on Friday after meeting Khan in Attock jail, Umiar Niazi, a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief’s legal team, said the former prime minister was in “good health, although he had grown a beard,” The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

“He [Imran] was provided with a mirror and shaving kit today,” the lawyer said.

Niazi asserted that among a team of six, only he was granted permission to meet Khan.

The lawyer expressed his intention to file a contempt of court petition against the “jailer’s conduct” for denying the legal team access to the former premier, despite possessing court orders.

“I do not care about not being given facilities [in jail]. It does not matter even if I am kept in jail for 1,000 years, but I am ready for it because [one has to] make sacrifices for freedom,” Niazi quoted Khan as saying.

Khan is facing more than 140 cases across the country and faces charges like terrorism, violence, blasphemy, corruption and murder since his ouster in April 2022.

The lawyer confirmed that the Federal Investigation Agency questioned Khan in Attock jail regarding the cipher (confidential diplomatic cable) issue on Wednesday, during which the former premier reiterated his previous stance.

He said Khan also spoke about the “disappearance” of his nephew Barrister Hassaan Khan Niazi, the report said.

The Lahore High Court directed authorities to produce Hassaan before the court by August 18 with regard to a plea seeking his recovery and an inquiry against officials over his “illegal detention”.

Meanwhile, police have informed the Lahore High Court on Friday that Hassaan Niazi, Khan’s nephew and his focal person on legal affairs, has been handed over to a military court for trial.

In a police report submitted to the court, Hassaan will be investigated and tried by the military after he was named as the prime suspect in the case pertaining to the Jinnah House attack in Lahore, which was triggered after Khan was arrested in Islamabad on May 9.

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The police arrested Hassaan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He was later handed over to the Quetta Police and then to the military at the commanding officer’s request, Geo News reported.