Pakistan has reportedly deported British journalist Charles Glass after he was denied permission to meet the incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, according to sources quoted by Geo News on Wednesday. The US-born British journalist was taken to the airport from a house in the federal capital after authorities cancelled his visa, the sources said.
The veteran journalist had requested permission from Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi via email to meet the PTI founder. Despite a court order, the journalist informed the minister that he was not allowed to meet Khan in jail.
Read more: Imran Khan Seeks Talks with Pakistan’s Military
The PTI founder has been jailed for almost a year since his arrest on August 5 last year on multiple charges ranging from terrorism to corruption, all of which Khan denies.
A day earlier, the 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician expressed his willingness to hold talks with the military to defuse the political crisis that has gripped the country since his ouster in a no-trust vote in April 2022.
The alleged deportation occurred four days after the journalist, reportedly a friend of Khan, revealed he was barred from meeting Khan in prison.
The journalist, who arrived in Islamabad last week to see the imprisoned Khan, told the media, “I am here [in Pakistan] as a friend of Imran Khan, not as a lawyer or an activist.”
Glass wrote an article on World Press Freedom Day in May this year supporting the release of Julian Assange and Imran Khan, arguing that both were imprisoned for defying the United States.
Read more: Jemima Goldsmith shares video of Imran Khan sons playing cricket
However, WikiLeaks founder Assange was freed on June 25 this year from the UK’s high-security Belmarsh prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified US government documents.
As a journalist and author, Glass has extensively written about conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe for the past 45 years. One of his books is “Soldiers Don’t Go Mad: A Story of Brotherhood, Poetry, and Mental Illness During the First World War.”