Open court trial in cipher case begins today

A special court established under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) will hear the cipher case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi inside the Adiala jail on Friday (today).

Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain will conduct the first open court hearing of the case on the order of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on a petition filed by the PTI chairman.

Earlier this week, the judge had ruled that the hearing would be held inside the jail because of security issues.

As per the court order, the family members of the accused – the wife and three sisters of Imran and two daughters of Qureshi – are expected to attend the hearing.

Besides many prominent political personalities are likely to come to Adiala Jail to witness the proceedings.

Several court reporters as well as international media correspondents also rushed to get permission for the coverage of the trial but so far, there had been no contact with the jail authorities.

Read also: Imran’s cipher case trial to be held at Adiala Jail

Officials said standard operating procedures (SOPs) were being prepared for the trial and its coverage.

Previously, the trial started inside the Adiala Jail but an IHC division bench annulled all those proceedings, ordering a fresh open court trial.

It is expected that during Friday’s hearing, copies of the challan will be distributed among the accused and the date will be fixed for their indictment.

The PTI chairman had also filed an amendment petition for the dismissal of the cipher in the Supreme Court.

In the petition, the PTI chief requested the apex court that the cipher case trial should be declared unconstitutional.

Imran was arrested on Aug 5, following his conviction in the Toshakhana case by a local court of Islamabad.

Read: IHC orders cipher case concluded in four weeks

Later, he was also arrested in the cipher case and the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) £190 million Al Qadir University case, which is also under trial inside the Adiala Jail.

During the hearing on Thursday, Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir issued notices to NAB on the post-arrest bail application filed by the PTI chairman, calling arguments on Dec 4. NAB Prosecutor Sohail Arif received the notice in the courtroom.

Meanwhile, an IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri sought written submissions from the counsel of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the PTI chairman’s plea for suspension of the Toshakhana criminal case verdict.

During the hearing, the ECP lawyer sought time from the court to prepare for his arguments. However, PTI’s lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa expressed his anger, saying that the move appeared to be an attempt to keep the PTI chairman out of the upcoming general elections.

Khosa said that on Aug 5, the trial court announced the sentence in the Toshakhana case, adding that the ECP was so quick that it issued a notification of disqualification of Imran for five years on Aug 8. He added that keeping Imran away from the election would jeopardise the PTI chief’s fundamental rights.

After hearing the heated arguments from both the sides, the chief justice told the lawyer of the ECP to file his written submissions after looking into the case law, after which the court would pass its order on the matter.