Pakistani presidential hopeful may be ill

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Doctors say in court documents Pakistani presidential hopeful Asif Ali Zardari allegedly suffers from a variety of serious psychiatric illnesses.

Psychiatrist Philip Saltiel diagnosed the husband of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as suffering from concentration and memory problems likely brought about by his 11 years in prison, the Financial Times said Tuesday.

"I do not foresee any improvement in these issues for at least a year," the New York-based doctor said in his 2007 diagnosis.

Psychologist Stephen Reich, also based out of New York, said Zardari once thought about suicide and had problems remembering family birthdays.

Yet Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's high commissioner to Britain, told the Times Zardari is mentally fit to assume the presidency if elected.

"You have got to understand that while he was in prison on charges that were never proven, there were attempts to kill him," Hasan said. "At that time, he was surrounded by fear all the time. Any human being living in such a condition will of course suffer from the effects of continuous fear. But that is all history."