[JURIST] Munir Malik [JURIST news archive], a former president of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) who was taken into custody by police in the wake of President Pervez Musharraf's November 3 declaration of emergency [JURIST news archive], was reported to be in critical condition in hospital Monday after his detention order was lifted. On Sunday Malik was transferred from Punjab's Attock Jail where he had been held and taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad where he was put under guard until the Punjab provincial government authorized his release. Pakistan's Dawn newspaper Sunday quoted Malik as saying that in jail he "was subjected to psychological torture, not physical torture" and that he was given medicine for a kidney problem that apparently worsened his condition, forcing him to undergo dialysis. Dawn has more.

Malik was the president of the SCBA earlier this year when Musharraf suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST report] for alleged judicial misconduct; he later represented Chaudhry in a series of legal proceedings protesting his suspension which ultimately led to Chaudhry's reinstatement [JURIST report]. This past October Malik was succeeded at the SCBA by fellow Chaudhry defense lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan [JURIST news archive], who on Sunday was transferred from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail to Lahore, where he is now under house arrest after filing papers [Post report] to run in Pakistan's parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8.