PTI’s Yasmin Rashid sent back to Kot Lakhpat Jail after doctors pressured into early discharge: lawyer

PTI Punjab President Yasmin Rashid was discharged from Lahore’s Services Hospital on Sunday after doctors were “pressured” to do so by a senior police officer, her lawyer Rana Mudassar alleged.

Rashid was hospitalised on Wednesday after she fell sick in Kot Lakhpat Jail, allegedly due to the lack of timely treatment.

She has been in prison for almost a year now in connection with multiple cases against her regarding the events of May 9, 2023, when countrywide protests and riots broke out after ex-premier Imran Khan’s arrest.

Rashid was first detained on May 12 last year under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance and re-arrested the next day for her alleged involvement in the May 9 riots.

On Wednesday, Rashid’s lawyer had alleged that the 72-year-old senior PTI leader, who is a cancer survivor, was not provided treatment by jail authorities the previous day despite continuous vomiting and stomach issues.

Mudassar alleged today that neither Rashid’s lawyers nor her family were allowed to meet her after she was hospitalised.

He told Dawn.com that his client had been kept in a “very uncomfortable place” at the hospital. He said that Rashid had been incarcerated for the last one year but had only experienced back problems once during this time.

He alleged that the bed at the hospital was “uncomfortable and broken” and the conditions had aggravated her back pain.

Mudassar said that doctors had said Rashid was required to remain in the hospital for “another two to three days as further investigations were needed as the infection was major”.