Imran Khan heads the opposition Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party. (File)
Ousted Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's lawyers have alleged a plot to kill him in the prison after his arrest in a corruption case triggered massive protests across the country. He was tortured and his meals were laced with insulin to give him a heart attack, his lawyers claimed.
The cricketer-turned-politician, who heads the opposition Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf party, alleged he was given an injection to induce a slow heart attack and not allowed to use the washroom. He also complained of chest pains, his lawyers said after meeting him for over an hour.
Mr Khan's Tuesday arrest has been termed "illegal" by the Pakistan Supreme Court, which has ordered his immediate release. Today he will appear before the Islamabad High Court to seek a pre-arrest bail and even address his supporters outside the court.
He is in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
"This is an attempt to kill him. He said he was not being allowed to sleep. He was kept in a dirty room without a toilet or bed. He was not given anything to eat since he was brought to police lines at 3 am," his lawyers told the media, according to news agency ANI.
Mr Khan, a former cricketing star who remains popular in Pakistan, urged people to keep fighting to restore the rule of law, they said.
The murder plot charges come over a month after Pakistan minister Rana Sanaullah had said "either Imran Khan or us will get murdered." Mr Khan also survived a gun attack at a rally last November.
The Supreme Court yesterday criticised Mr Khan's arrest from the court where he had come to appear in a case, stating that a person cannot be arrested from the court premises without the permission of the registrar.
Mr Khan's arrest in the Al-Qadir Trust case follows months of political crisis in Pakistan and hours after Pakistan's powerful military rebuked him for alleging a murder plot by a senior officer.
His supporters responded with protests and set the house of a corps commander on fire in Lahore. They also laid siege to the army's general headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Several politicians have been jailed in the past in Pakistan that has faced at least three coups by the military.