- Trial court adjourns proceedings held in Adiala jail, till 31st
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday rejected former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s bail plea in the cypher case.
Chief Justice IHC Aamer Farooq, who had reserved his decision on Imran’s bail application earlier, announced the reserved decision on Friday.
The court also dismissed a petition seeking quashment of the case. Imran is currently imprisoned in Adiala Jail on judicial remand in the cypher case.
On Thursday, the IHC had rejected Imran’s request for halting the trial of cypher case, being conducted by a special court formed under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), and reserved its ruling on his bail application.
At least three different benches of the IHC heard various petitions filed by Imran.
Imran’s lawyer Salman Safdar argued that they had been provided the copies of the challan on Oct 17, while the court Indicted Imran on Oct 23, without giving a seven-day time. He added that the copy of the cypher was not part of the challan, therefore, they did not know what the charges were.
In his ruling, the chief justice turned down the PTI chief’s plea to stop the trial. However, on the issue related to the indictment of the accused, the court said that the petitioner had the right to a transparent trial.
First information report (FIR)
The first information report (FIR) was registered on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act. It was registered on the complaint of the Home Secretary.
Former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were nominated in the report, while names of former principal secretary Azam Khan and former planning minister Asad Umar were also mentioned.
The FIR stated that the former prime minister and foreign minister distorted the facts of the diplomatic cipher. “A conspiracy was launched to misuse the contents of the cipher to fulfill nefarious purposes”, it added. It further stated that the former premier and top diplomat endangered the state interests.
Lawyers meet PTI chairman
Separately, PTI’s lawyers Sardar Latif Khosa, Umair Niazi, Gohar Ali, Naeem Haider Panjotha and others met the PTI chairman for about an hour at the Adiala Jail and discussed with him the legal issues pertaining to his cases.
Cypher case hearing adjourned
Meanwhile, a special court on Friday adjourned the hearing of cypher case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi till October 31.
Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain heard the case in Adiala Jail under the Official Secrets Act 2023. The court adjourned the hearing due to the issuance of detailed verdict in cypher case bail pleas.
The Special Court will now record statements of official witnesses against Imran Khan and Qureshi and has summoned 28 witnesses of the government. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team will present the witnesses. After the statements, the lawyers will cross-examine them.
Strict security arrangements have also been made outside the jail.
