Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party officials say he was arrested as he appeared in court in the capital Islamabad to face charges in multiple corruption cases.
Fawad Chaudhry, a senior official from Pakistan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party, said Khan, 72, was arrested on Tuesday at the court premises by agents of the country’s anti-corruption body, the National Accountability Office.
Khan was ousted in a vote of no confidence in April last year. He has claimed that his ouster was illegal and a Western conspiracy and has campaigned against the government of his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, demanding early elections.
Chaudhry said Khan was dragged out of court and into a police vehicle. He said the former prime minister is now in the custody of security forces. He denounced the arrest as «a kidnapping.»
Pakistan’s independent GEO television broadcast footage of Khan being dragged by security forces into an armored vehicle, which took him away.
Khan’s party immediately complained to the Islamabad High Court, which requested a police report explaining the charges for Khan’s arrest.
Anti-corruption agency officials said Pakistan’s National Accountability Office had issued arrest warrants for Khan last week in a separate corruption case, for which he had not obtained bail, which would protect him from arrest under the country’s law.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Khan will appear before an anti-corruption court later on Tuesday.