IHC stays cipher trial till Jan 11

The Islamabad High Court on Thursday stopped the proceedings of the trial of PTI founding chairman and deposed premier Imran Khan as well as his ex-deputy Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case till January 11.

Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb heard Imran’s plea against the in-camera trial of the cipher case by a special court.
In his nine-page order, Justice Aurangzeb observed that the case was being heard on a daily basis despite the Supreme Court’s annulment of the order to complete the trial in four weeks.

It added that this was why the proceedings of the trial court were being stayed till January 11. The order further read that according to the attorney general for Pakistan (AGP), the statements of 13 witnesses were recorded in an in-camera trial by December 21.

It continued that the AGP said four of these 13 witnesses were linked to the Foreign Office’s cipher security system.
The IHC order further quoted the AGP as saying that secretly recording the statements of these four witnesses was important for national security.

Read Imran moves IHC against cypher case in-camera trial

The court noted that that the in-camera statements of the remaining nine witnesses were not in accordance with law and must be examined. According to the AGP, the statements of 12 witnesses were recorded in an open trial after December 21.
The order read that an open trial could not be conducted in-camera on the mere request of the prosecution.

The order stated that the re-recording of the testimonies of the nine witnesses in the in-camera trial would be considered in the final judgment.

The IHC noted that in the cipher trial, the special court released the certified copies of witnesses’ statements. It added that the IHC would examine from the certified copies whether any damage could be caused to the state or not.

Earlier during the hearing, Justice Aurangzeb remarked that the SC had declared the material insufficient in its judgment in this case. He added that before the court was a case of first impression and the safety of the state should not be compromised.

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AGP Mansoor Awan and Additional AGP Iqbal Duggal appeared in court along with the Federal investigation Agency’s (FIA) prosecution team, while PTI counsel Salman Akram Raja participated via video link. Observing that that the matter of security was not the jurisdiction of the IHC, Justice Aurangzeb asked why in-camera proceedings were being held when the court had ordered an open trial at the last hearing.

He also noted that the family members and the media were allowed to attend the hearing, but a petition had again been filed stating that the proceedings have been declared in-camera. Justice Aurangzeb noted that he tried to explain multiple times to the trial court judge and the prosecution regarding an open trial, adding that the law being used dates back to when the country did not even exist.

To a query, the AGP elaborated that the testimonies of 25 witnesses had been recorded so far, adding that three of them had been cross-examined. PTI’s lawyer Raja argued that the in-camera trial had started after 10 witnesses. The AGP said that if one or two family members were present, it meant a closed trial.

Read Key witnesses record statements in cypher case

To this, Justice Aurangzeb remarked that he had reservations over way the proceedings were being carried out.
He continued that there should be a trial but the court had to see the closed-door proceedings. AGP Awan assured the court that only four witnesses linked to the Foreign Office's cipher security would be cross-examined in-camera.

He added that the job of these witnesses was to decode ciphers from all over the world and the details of how this system worked could not be brought before the public. The judge remarked that there was an important constitutional issue before the court and it would look into it.

He also observed that there was “inaccuracy” in the special court judge's decision. When the FIA prosecutor read out the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2023, Justice Aurangzeb maintained there were “legal errors” present in the case.
Justice Aurangzeb directed the PTI lawyer to provide the certified copy of the three witnesses who were cross-examined to the court.

The judge adjourned the hearing till January 11 and barred the special court from proceeding until then.

(With input from our another correspondent in Islamabad)