Imran’s bail plea will be heard in open court

IHC rejects FIA’s request, says confidential documents will remain secret

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected on Wednesday the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) petition for holding in-camera proceedings of the bail application of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan in the cipher case.

Announcing the reserved verdict on FIA’s petition, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq ruled that the matter would be heard before an open court but the documents to be kept confidential, would remain so after consulting the counsel. The court fixed the bail application hearing for October 9.

The cipher case concerns a diplomatic cable, which reportedly went missing from Imran’s possession. Imran had repeatedly said before and after the no-confidence motion against him last year that the cipher pointed to a conspiracy to remove him from the prime minister’s office.

Imran was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. He was incarcerated on August 5, 2023, after an Islamabad court sentenced him to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case. The PTI chief was lodged in the Attock District Jail to serve his prison term.

Later, his sentence was suspended by the IHC, but then the PTI chief was arrested in the cipher case and remained in the Attock jail on judicial remand. Later, a special court was formed under Official Secrets Act to try Imran inside the jail premises.

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was the foreign minister in the Imran-led government, is also implicated in the cipher case. In the last hearing of the case on September 26, their judicial remand was extended till October 10.

Jail trial

Since Imran was shifted to Adiala Jail from Attock prison last week, the special court held the hearing of the case inside the Adiala Jail on Wednesday. Imran had already challenged the trial in the jail.

He filed another application in the IHC to stop the law ministry from issuing the notification of jail trial.

The petition said that the IHC decision on the petition against the transfer of trial court to Attock Jail was reserved, while the law ministry issued a similar notification of the transfer of the court to Adiala Jail. He requested the IHC to announce the reserved judgment on the main application.

On September 30, both the PTI leaders, Imran and Qureshi, were declared as principal accused by the FIA in its challan submitted before the special court. During the hearing, on Wednesday, the court stopped further proceedings until the copies of the challan were provided to the accused.

Imran and Qureshi both appeared before the court along with their lawyers. Similarly, an FIA team as well as the Special Prosecutor Zulfiqar Abbasi also appeared in the courtroom for hearing. According to reports reaching outside, Imran also spoke with his lawyers.

At the outset of the hearing, the FIA prosecutor requested the court to allow in-camera proceedings. However, Judge Abul Hasnaat Zulqarnain observed that general public was not present in the courtroom since the trial was being conducted inside the prison.

The hearing was adjourned till October 9.

Speaking to the media outside the Adiala jail after the hearing, Imran’s lawyer Salman Safdar said that Imran termed the cipher case an attempt to save “some people”.

He said that Imran rejected any deal with anyone and stressed the need for immediate and transparent elections in the country.

Referring to the FIA’s request for an in-camera trial of the cipher case, Safdar said that if the trial was to be held, it must be held before the public. “Requesting for in-camera proceedings on the charges framed under a 100-year-old law [the Official Secrets Act] is unconstitutional,” he said.

Responding to a question, he said that charges under the Official Secrets Act were “serious”. The matter of the PTI chief’s arrest in this case was being kept secret and now attempts were being made to keep the trial secret as well, Safdar added.

He stressed that the matter was pending before the high court and his team would appeal to the trial court to adjourn proceedings till it was decided. The counsel said that he spoke to Imran briefly, adding that a more “detailed conversation will be held with him tomorrow (Thursday)”.