IHC defers Imran’s conviction suspension plea

Will take up his main appeal against trial court orders on March 5

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has indefinitely deferred the hearing of a couple of petitions filed by former prime minister Imran Khan for the suspension of his conviction and sentences in the gift repository and diplomatic cipher cases.

However, the court will hear Imran’s appeal against his conviction in the two cases on March 5.

An accountability court convicted Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi in the gifts repository—Toshakhana—case on January 31, sentencing each of them to 14 years in prison.

A day earlier, on January 30, a special court also sentenced the former PM, Imran, and the former foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, to ten years in prison for allegedly misusing a diplomatic cipher in the last days of the PTI government in March 2022.

The PTI founder, his wife, and Qureshi later filed appeals against the trial courts’ orders. They also filed petitions seeking suspension of their conviction and sentences.

A division bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb resumed hearing these petitions on Thursday.

During the proceedings, Justice Aurangzeb noted that the IHC has already issued an order highlighting the reasons as to why the suspension of conviction is so rarely allowed in criminal cases.

“We are bound to abide by that order. As the order has already been challenged in the Supreme Court, we will wait for the apex court to decide that matter. We will, therefore, defer your request [for suspension of Imran Khan’s conviction and sentence] for an indefinite period,” he said.

The prosecutor for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the respondent in the gifts case, told the court that NAB special prosecutor Amjad Pervaiz could not attend the hearing due to the death of a relative. He requested the court to defer the hearing until the second week of March.

The assistant attorney general also told the bench that two special prosecutors were supposed to be appointed to represent the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the respondent in the cipher case.

He also requested the court to adjourn the matter, noting that the FIA has written to the Ministry of Law for hiring the special prosecutors.

Imran’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, told the bench that the trial court concluded the proceedings in a hurry and did not allow the accused to present his case.

Justice Farooq noted that the IHC will review if the trial courts have made any mistakes in the light of court records. The court later adjourned the hearing of the appeal against the trial courts’ orders until March 5.