Imran’s jail trial appeal to be decided by IHC today

Imran’s jail trial appeal to be decided by IHC today. Today, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) will pronounce its reserved verdict on a petition filed by imprisoned Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan challenging his trial in the cipher case. 

As per the cause list released by the IHC registrar’s office, Chief Justice Aamer Farooq will announce a reserved verdict on Khan’s petition challenging the Law Ministry’s notification to hold his trial in jail. On September 12, the IHC reserved its verdict.

According to Munawar Iqbal Duggal, Additional Attorney General, the cipher’s hearing in Attock jail was a one-time permission.

According to him, a hearing on the case was held in [Attock] jail on August 30, and the ministry had also issued a no-objection certificate (NOC) for the trial to be conducted there.

As a result, the chief justice of the IHC noted that the jail trial was not unusual.

According to the prosecutor, the notification regarding moving the court to Attock jail was issued as per law.

If the notification was issued again, the court asked what would happen. In the IHC judge’s view, it must be decided under what authority the notification can be issued.

Sher Afzal Marwat, a lawyer for the PTI, had argued that there was ill intent behind the notification.

A court must decide the validity of the notification, not the application, he said.

The 17th will be the day Imran is indicted in the cipher case

Shah Mahmood Qureshi was indicted in the diplomatic cable case by a special court established under the Official Secrets Act last week.

PTI leaders were presented before Special Court Judge Zulqarnain in Adiala Jail, where both leaders are incarcerated.

A date for the indictment was set after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted copies of the challan to the court. The court also issued notices to the government witnesses after setting the date of the indictment.

During the hearing, Khan protested the treatment he received in Adiala Jail and demanded to be treated like other prisoners.

Khan was arrested from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore shortly after he was convicted in the Toshakhana case in August.

The former prime minister was convicted by a district and sessions court in the federal capital of corrupt practices related to the state gift depository, allegations he denies.

Over 140 million rupees ($635,000) in gifts were received by the cricketer-turned-politician during visits abroad and were allegedly used by him to misuse his position as premier.

Gate with cable

Just days before his ouster in April 2022, Khan brandished a letter claiming it was a cipher from a foreign nation that called for the removal of his government.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter or identify the nation that sent it. Several days later, he named the United States and said Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had requested his removal.

In the cipher, Asad Majeed discussed his meeting with Lu with the former Pakistan ambassador to the US.

It will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power, according to the former prime minister, who claimed to be reading the contents of the cipher.

In response, on March 31, the National Security Committee (NSC) issued a “strong demarche” to the country for “blatant interference in Pakistani internal affairs”.

Afterwards, Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the NSC, which determined that there was no evidence of a foreign conspiracy in the cipher.

As a result of the former premier’s principal secretary Azam Khan’s statement to a magistrate and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that he had used the US cipher to avoid a no-confidence vote against him, the cipher case against him became serious.

As the former bureaucrat confessed, he was euphoric when he gave the ex-premier the cipher and termed the language a “US blunder”. According to Azam, the former prime minister said the cable could be used to “create a narrative against the establishment and the opposition”.

Azam said the PTI chairman used the US cipher in political gatherings, despite his advice to avoid it. A former prime minister also told him that the cipher could be used to divert public attention away from “foreign involvement” in the opposition’s no-confidence motion.