P Waytha Moorthy said the whereabouts of Syed Fawad Ali Shah, 41, became known after Pakistani authorities called his family to confirm he was alive.

Fawad, who had spent more than 10 years in exile in Kuala Lumpur, went missing last August. He wrote articles critical of the Pakistani government from here.

“All this time, they (the Pakistani authorities) denied that Fawad was in Pakistan. For the first time, they revealed his whereabouts, that he was at the Adiala jail,” Waytha told FMT.

According to him, Fawad had only been brought from an undisclosed location to the prison two days earlier when they met on Feb 8.

“We believe his emergence was due to a habeas corpus filing which we made here,” he said.

Fawad’s wife, Syeda, had spent more than two months in Kuala Lumpur searching for him, with Malaysian authorities initially claiming not to know anything.

Having hit a brick wall here, Syeda returned to Pakistan, where authorities also claimed to be unaware of his whereabouts.

The Malaysian authorities later revealed that he had been deported to Pakistan through diplomatic channels, allegedly because he was wanted for disciplinary issues when he was a policeman.

Syeda, however, denied the claim, saying he was never a policeman.

According to Waytha, Fawad had told Syeda that on his return to Pakistan, he was placed in a dark underground cell, where he was allegedly tortured.

Fawad made the claims when Syeda went to visit him at the prison some 300km from their hometown. She was alerted to his whereabouts by a Pakistani government official, Waytha claimed.

“Fawad told Syeda that he had been ‘kidnapped’ by the Pakistani secret service.

“He said he was taken on a stretcher to the airport and put on a Pakistan International Airlines flight without any travel documents.

“He has been detained in the underground dark room cell since Aug 26, and only met his wife on Feb 8,” he said.

He said Syeda found bruises on Fawad’s face. He also appeared to be suffering from a skin disease, likely due to lack of exposure to sunlight.

“Fawad appeared to be suffering from psychiatric issues as he kept repeating his words and being fearful for his life. His wife says it is likely due to him being placed in a dark room cell.”

He also told his wife he might be framed for other offences if he tried to fight his detention, Waytha, who is also the Malaysian Advancement Party chief, said.