Pakistan’s imprisoned Sharif taken to hospital

Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is serving a seven-year jail term over graft charges, was taken to hospital on Saturday, officials said. Sharif was transferred from Kot Lakhpat prison in the eastern city of Lahore to a government hospital, where he was undergoing medical tests.

“Nawaz Sharif has been moved to hospital from jail,” a senior government official in Lahore said. Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz confirmed the news on Twitter. Sharif has been facing multiple health issues. He was transferred from jail to hospital last July over an irregular electrocardiogram reading during his first prison term when a graft court sentenced him to ten years in a case revolving around family properties in London.

He was released in September after another court suspended his sentence pending an appeal hearing -- but was again sentenced to seven years in prison for corruption in a second case. Sharif has denied all the charges against him and claims he is being targeted by the country’s powerful security establishment. The Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from politics for life over the allegations last year and directed an anti-corruption body to investigate three different charges regarding his family’s properties and businesses.