A court in Pakistan yesterday granted a request by the wife of former prime minister Imran Khan to be moved to jail, her lawyer said, instead of the house arrest ordered by the government. In her petition to the Islamabad High Court, Bushra Bibi had accused authorities of violating her privacy and serving contaminated food in her home cell, which she and her lawyers said was dominated by men, a charge the prison staff has denied. Bibi says she has been detained in one room at Khan’s hilltop mansion in Islamabad since the couple’s January conviction on charges of illegally selling state gifts. Through her lawyers Bibi had asked to be shifted to jail, which authorities complied with shortly after the court issued the order, her party said. The court ordered authorities to shift her to Adyala jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Khan, 70, is serving his 14-year sentence. The party said Bibi’s shift to jail will answer critics that her stay at home instead of prison was part of some deal to seek concessions from government. Pakistan army spokesperson Major General Ahmed Sharif said on Tuesday that it was not possible to open talks for any deal with a party that had been involved in attacks against the state institutions.
