Imran, Qureshi to appear in court on 28th

Special Court says trial in cipher case to be resumed from where it was left on August 29

ISLAMABAD:

In view of a high court verdict, the judge of a special court has directed authorities to present former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in his court at Islamabad’s Judicial Complex on November 28.

Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain has noted that on that day the trial of the PTI leaders – in a case related to alleged misuse of a diplomatic cipher – will resume from where it was left on August 29.

If authorities complied with the court order, this would be the first appearance of Imran and Qureshi in a courthouse since their arrest in August this year.
On Thursday, the special court that was formed in June this year to hear cases filed under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, resumed the case hearing at the Judicial Complex.

Lawyers of Imran and Qureshi – Ali Bukhari, Taimur Malik, and Khalid Yousaf – as well as Qureshi’s daughter, Mehr Bano, attended the hearing.
Initially, the judge asked his staff whether they had received a copy of the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) November 21 order. On getting a reply in the affirmative, the judge ordered authorities to present the incarcerated PTI leaders in court on November 23.

Read further Federation, FIA issued notices in Imran’s bail plea

On March 27, 2022, just before facing a vote of no-confidence that led to his removal, former premier Imran took out a piece of paper – allegedly a diplomatic cipher – from his pocket and displayed it at a public rally, claiming it was evidence of an "international conspiracy" to topple his government.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) initiated its probe into the so-called “cipher-gate” on July 19, 2023, after the last PML-N-led coalition government announced an official inquiry against the former PM and his close associates for violating the Official Secrets Act, 1923.

PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who had served as the country’s foreign minister during the PTI’s rule, was arrested by the FIA on August 19. The agency arrested Imran on August 29. On August 29, the law ministry also issued a notification that said the Law and Justice Division had “no objection” to the PTI chairman’s trial in the cipher case being held inside jail.

Read IHC declares jail trial in cypher case illegal

Subsequently, the PTI challenged the prison trial of Imran and Qureshi in the Islamabad High Court (IHC). A single-member bench of IHC, comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, however, dismissed the petition. The PTI later moved an intra-court appeal against the single bench’s order and on November 21, a division bench of the IHC declared the prison trial of the PTI leaders as null and void.

In its short order, the court declared that the law ministry’s notifications about Imran’s jail trial—issued on August 29, September 12, September 25, October 3, and October 13—were “without lawful authority and no legal effect”. It added that the law ministry’s notifications issued on November 13 and November 15 after decisions made by the cabinet were “of no legal consequence”. The short order read that the November 15 notification could not be given a “retrospective effect”.

“Consequently, the proceedings with effect from August 29 and the trial conducted … in jail premises in a manner that cannot be termed as an open trial stand vitiated,” the order read.