IHC rejects Qureshi’s bail plea in cypher case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday rejected a bail application in the cypher case by former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Justice Aamer Farooq heard the bail plea and had earlier reserved its verdict.

Earlier, on Tuesday IHC stayed in-prison trial of PTI chief Imran Khan and Vice Chairman Qureshi in the cipher case by a special court established under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

A two-member bench comprising Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb and Justice Suman Rifat Imtiaz also summoned the entire record of the jail trial within two days. The court said that allowing a few family members to attend the hearing did not make it an open court hearing.

Read Families of Imran, Qureshi to allowed attend cipher trial

In the same case, another IHC bench reserved its ruling on the restoration of Imran’s bail application in an accountability court of Islamabad. During the hearing of Imran’s intra-court appeal against his jail trial and appointment of the special court judge in the cipher case, Justice Aurangzeb asked the prosecution to apprise the court that under which circumstances the decision of trial in jail was taken.

Justice Aurangzeb recalled that the trial of the accused in the Indira Gandhi assassination case was held inside a jail in India but even then, the journalists, including those who were from BBC, were allowed to cover it.

The judge also noted that the manner in which charges were filed in the cipher case could not be termed open court proceedings. He also held the view that the three notifications about jail trials were not in accordance with the IHC rules.