No Relief: Imran Khan's pleas seeking bail, cancellation of FIR in cipher case rejected

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Friday rejected Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s pleas for bail and cancellation of the FIR in the cipher case. The verdict was announced by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, which was reserved on October 16 after both sides were completed. During the hearing earlier this month, Imran Khan’s counsel, Sardar Latif Khosa, said an FIR could not be registered against the PTI chief since the federal Cabinet of the former prime minister declassified the cipher. He also said the ex-premier enjoyed immunity as provided in Article 248 of the Constitution which protects the president, governor, prime minister, federal minister, minister of state, chief minister and provincial minister for their “act done or purported to be done.” Khan and his close ally ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were on Monday indicted by the special court on charges of leaking state secrets and violating the laws of the country. Khan was arrested in August 2023, after a case was filed against him for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act by disclosing a secret diplomatic cable (cipher) sent by the country’s embassy in Washington in March last year. On September 30, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) filed the charge sheet against Khan and Qureshi who signed its copies. The FIA invoked in the charge sheet sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act which may lead to a death sentence, or two to 14 years’ imprisonment if convicted. Khan, who served as prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to April 2022, is accused of “misuse the contents of the cipher” to build a narrative that his government was ousted due to a foreign conspiracy hatched by the US, a charge denied by Washington. The charge sheet added that Qureshi “aided and abetted” Khan and therefore was liable for the act in the same manner. More than 150 cases have been registered against Khan since his ouster from power in April last year. Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. He was incarcerated on August 5 this year, after an IHC sentenced him to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case. He was lodged in the Attock District Jail to serve his prison term. Later, his sentence was suspended by the IHC, but then he was arrested in the cipher case and remained in the Attock jail on judicial remand. He was later shifted to Adiala jail. With inputs from agencies