Islamabad, Dec. 8 (AP): A top lawyer, jailed for leading a campaign against Pakistan’s President for imposing emergency, is seriously ill and wants to go abroad quickly for treatment, a prominent activist said today, claiming he may have been poisoned.

Munir A. Malik, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, has been in government custody since President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency November 3.

Asma Jehangir, who heads the independent Human Right Commission of Pakistan, suggested Malik was poisoned, saying his health has deteriorated since he was “tricked into drinking a glass of juice laced with some unknown ingredient, which attacked vital organs”.

However, Jehangir offered no evidence to back up her claim, saying the information came from an unidentified doctor who visited Malik at a hospital where he was brought from jail.