(Web Desk Monitoring) — Pakistan has reportedly deported British journalist Charles Glass after he was denied permission to meet the incarcerated former prime minister, Imran Khan, at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

According to sources cited by private TV channel Geo News, the journalist was taken to the airport from a residence in the federal capital after authorities canceled his visa.

Glass, a US-born British journalist, had sought permission via email from Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi to meet the PTI founder. He informed the minister that despite a court order, he was not allowed to visit Khan in jail. Khan has been imprisoned for nearly a year, following his arrest on August 5 of last year on charges ranging from terrorism to corruption, which he denies.

The incident comes a day after the 72-year-old cricketer-turned-politician expressed willingness to hold talks with the military to ease the political crisis that has engulfed the country since his ouster in a no-confidence vote in April 2022.

The alleged deportation occurred four days after Glass, reportedly a friend of Khan, revealed that he had been barred from meeting him in prison. Speaking to the media, Glass stated, “I am here [in Pakistan] as a friend of Imran Khan, and not as a lawyer or an activist.”

Earlier this year, Glass wrote an article on World Press Freedom Day advocating for the release of both Julian Assange and Imran Khan, arguing that they were imprisoned for defying the United States. While Assange was released on June 25 from the UK’s high-security Belmarsh prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified US documents, Khan remains behind bars.

Glass is an experienced journalist and author, having written extensively on conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe over the past 45 years. His works include the book “Soldiers Don’t Go Mad: A Story of Brotherhood, Poetry, and Mental Illness During the First World War.”