By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia's imprisoned opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was whisked from his prison cell to hospital early Tuesday morning with abnormal blood pressure.

Ibrahim's eldest daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar told Anadolu Agency that her father is now in Sungai Buloh Hospital near capital Kuala Lumpur after his blood pressure spiked Monday night for unknown reasons.

She added that her father -- who is currently serving five years jail on sodomy charges -- is now in a stable condition.

"The doctors have however advised him to take a rest in the hospital while they investigate what triggered the blood pressure fluctuation," said the member of parliament in a telephone conversation.

Ibrahim had been suffering from a torn muscle in his shoulder that needs intensive physiotherapy treatment 3 times a week.

His lawyers have claimed that the federal government has barred him from seeking treatment in an established hospital, and have called for him to be treated overseas.

The government has said it will allow Ibrahim to seek medical treatment from overseas experts, so long as they conduct the procedures in the Southeast Asian country.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has said that Ibrahim is being given all necessary medical attention.

Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister and parliamentary opposition leader, has denied the charges under which he was imprisoned, repeatedly insisting that they are baseless and he is the victim of a political vendetta.

Ibrahim has enjoyed huge support among Malaysians since his entrenchment as deputy prime minister in former premier Mahathir Mohamad's government in 1998.

The opposition leader and Ibrahim's supporters claim that the case against him for sodomizing Saiful Bukhari Azlan is politically motivated and aimed at stopping him standing in the 2018 general election.

Ibrahim has been the main opponent of the ruling party -- which has been in power from the time of independence in 1957 -- since falling out with the government in the late 1990s.

The 2013 election saw his opposition coalition come close to unseating the government in what Ibrahim dubbed the "worst electoral fraud in our history.”