Cipher case: Pakistan high court issues stay order against jail trial of Imran Khan

A Pakistan high court on Tuesday issued a stay order against the jail trial of former prime minister Imran Khan in the cipher case, as a special court was hearing the case in a high-security Rawalpindi prison. The 71-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman is currently detained in Adiala jail in Rawalpindi on judicial remand. Khan’s close aide and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, 67, who was also arrested in the cipher case is imprisoned in the same jail. Khan and Qureshi have pleaded not guilty to the charges. A two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz pronounced the judgment during the hearing of Khan’s intra-court appeal against his trial in Adiala jail. The appeal was filed against a single-member bench of the same court which last month upheld the trial of Khan in Adiala Jail. The IHC refused to grant a plea by attorney general Mansoor Awan that instead of staying the trial, the court should fix the next hearing for tomorrow when he would present the entire record of the case. After rejecting the request, the court fixed the next hearing for Thursday and ordered to stop the proceeding. The development comes a day after the caretaker government on Monday approved the jail trial of Khan and Qureshi in the case based on an alleged violation of the Official Secrets Act while dealing with a secret diplomatic cable by the Pakistan embassy in Washington in March 2022. The duo were booked by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)in the case in August. The Cabinet gave its nod to the summary moved by the law ministry for the jail trial of Khan and Qureshi in Adiala jail due to security concerns. The single bench, led by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, on 16 October had observed no apparent malice behind conducting Khan’s jail trial in the cipher case and directed him to approach the trial court if his reservations persist. Subsequently, Khan filed an intra-court appeal against the single bench’s decision. As the IHC issued orders to stay the hearing, Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain presided over the trial of Khan and Qureshi in the jail, where witnesses were summoned to record their statements. Limited family members of both the accused were allowed to attend the hearing today as they were permitted to do so during the previous hearing. Both Khan and Qureshi were present during the trial. Separately, an Islamabad-based accountability court sought details from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) if a notification had been issued for a jail hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust case against Khan. Khan was formally arrested on Monday in the Al-Qadir Trust and Toshakhana cases after the same court accepted NAB’s plea to arrest him for probe in the two cases. The former premier was first arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case on 9 May, which led to violent protests countrywide, and later on released on the orders of the Supreme Court.