Former Pakistan Prime Minister and famous cricketer Imran Khan has been arrested during a court appearance in the capital Islamabad over corruption allegations.
Fawad Chaudhry, a senior official with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said the 72-year-old was arrested on the premises of the court by agents from the country's anti-corruption body, the National Accountability Bureau.
PTI leader Musarrat Cheema, alleged in a video message on Twitter: “They are torturing Imran Khan right now."
The PTI is the party Khan founded in 1996 and he served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022 before being ousted.
Khan's party immediately complained to the Islamabad High Court, which requested a police report explaining the charges for Khan's arrest.
Officials from the anti-corruption body said that Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau had issued arrest warrants for Khan last week in a separate graft case, for which he had not obtained bail — something that would protect him from arrest under the country's laws.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Khan will be brought to appear before an anti-graft tribunal later on Tuesday.
Chaudhry said Khan was dragged out of the court and into a police vehicle and that he is now in the custody of the security forces. He denounced the arrest as "an abduction."
Khan was later moved to the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad, where he was to be questioned at the offices of the National Accountability Bureau.
Khan had arrived in Islamabad earlier on Tuesday from the nearby city of Lahore, where he resides, to face charges before the Islamabad High Court in multiple graft cases.
He has claimed that the cases, which include terrorism charges, are a plot by Sharif's government to discredit him.
As Khan was taken away, a fight broke out between Khan’s supporters and police, causing some of Khan's lawyers and supporters to be injured, according to Chaudhry.
Pakistan’s independent GEO TV broadcast images of Khan being pulled by security forces towards an armoured vehicle and another video posted on Twitter shows his lawyer covered in blood.
As the news of the arrest spread, Khan's supporters started gathering in Lahore, chanting anti-government slogans.
The arrest is “blatant interference in the judicial affairs by the powers-that-be," Raoof Hasan, another leader from Khan's party, told Al Jazeera English television.
"We are completely in the dark. He was virtually abducted from the court of law.”
The arrest came hours after Khan issued a video message before heading to Islamabad, saying he was “mentally prepared” for arrest — an indication he may have known what awaited him in the capital.
There are over 120 cases registered against Khan in various courts.
In November, he was shot in the leg during a supporters rally, in what his supporters say was an assassination attempt.
During a political march, unidentified assailants opened fire with an AK-47 on the cricket legend's container truck. He left with minor injuries but one of his supporters was killed.
On Monday, the military in a strongly worded statement criticized Khan of “fabricated and malicious allegations” of its involvement in the November shooting, saying they are “extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable.”
Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April last year. He has claimed his ouster was illegal and a Western conspiracy and has campaigned against the government of his successor, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, demanding early elections.
