Doctors in Pakistan have said that a mentally-ill Edinburgh man shot by a police officer while on death row for blasphemy is too unwell to be returned to prison.

Seventy-year-old British citizen Mohammed Asgha was targeted in Adiala jail, Rawalpindi, last week by a police officer.

Mr Asghar has been hospitalised since the shooting, but the Pakistani authorities have made several attempts to returned him to the same prison where the attempt on his life occurred.

However local doctors have now echoed concerns voiced by legal charity Reprieve, which is supporting Mr Asghar, that he should not be returned to the prison.

Mr Asghar has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act in Edinburgh’s Royal Victoria Hospital shortly before his 2010 trip to Pakistan, during which he was arrested on blasphemy charges.

Reprieve is now calling on the British government to redouble its efforts to ensure that Mr Asghar is returned home as soon as he is well enough to travel, arguing that that he would be at risk of further attacks by extremists while in Pakistan.

Kate Higham, an investigator at Reprieve, said: “While it is a relief that Mr Asghar is not being sent back to prison immediately, he is still far from safe from further attempts on his life.

“The only way we can be sure of his safety is to have him returned to Britain. He is a deeply vulnerable, mentally ill man who should never have been put through this appalling ordeal.

“The British government must redouble its efforts to have him returned to his family in Edinburgh.”