Pakistan ex-ruler Musharraf critically ill in Dubai

Pakistan’s former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf is critically ill and has been hospitalized in Dubai since last month, his family said Friday. They asked for prayers for Musharraf’s health while denying local media reports back home that he is on a ventilator.

Musharraf has been living in the United Arab Emirates since 2016, when he was allowed to leave Pakistan on bail to seek medical treatment abroad. A death sentence against him, handed down in absentia in 2020 in a treason case related to the state of emergency that Musharraf imposed in 2007 while in power, was later overturned.

Over the years, the former dictator was said to be very ill and was unlikely to travel home to face the sentence. Friday’s statement from Musharraf’s family, posted on Twitter, followed newspaper reports in Pakistan and statements attributed to his friends saying he was gravely ill.

“He is not on the ventilator. Has been hospitalized for the last 3 weeks due to a complication of his ailment,” Musharraf’s family said, adding that he has been suffering from amyloidosis, a chronic metabolic disease in which abnormal proteins build up and damage organs such as the heart, kidney and liver.