A special court postponed the hearing in a cypher case against Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) until October 9 on Wednesday.
Cipher case hearing: The two leaders were brought before the hearing that was held today at Adiala Jail under the supervision of Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain.
The PTI’s legal team objected to the hearing taking place in Adiala Jail and requested a postponement until the Islamabad High Court (IHC) made a decision regarding a motion challenging their client’s closed-door trial.
The judge then postponed the hearing until October 9.
The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) request for an in-camera hearing was denied by the IHC on October 2. In order to protect “privileged” and “sensitive” papers and information, the FIA had asked the court for an in-camera session.
The special court in the meantime issued orders on Monday requiring the two PTI leaders to appear before it on October 4 (today).
The Ministry of Law and Justice announced the jail trial of Imran and Qureshi in the cypher case just a day ago.
The Ministry of Law and Justice issued a notification stating that, in accordance with the rules and orders of the Lahore High Court, Lahore, Volume III, Instructions to Criminal Courts Chapter-1, Practice in the trial of criminal cases Part A, General (3), along with section 352 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, and upon the request of the Judge, Special Court (Official Secrets Act,1923), Islamabad, dated October 2, the Law and Justice Division has granted “No Objection” to conducting the trial of the accused (Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi), who is currently in custody, under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 (Act No XIX of 1923), by the said Judge until he receives security clearance from the relevant authorities (Interior Division).
PTI Rejects Law Ministry’s Notification, Demands Fair Trial in Cypher Case
However, the PTI rejected it, with Raoof Hasan claiming that the announcement is an unacceptable outright breach of a fair trial.
He demanded the immediate revocation of the Law Ministry’s notification and the public hearing of the case against the PTI leader and Qureshi.
The FIA detained Qureshi on August 19 and the PTI leader on August 29 in connection with the cypher case.
The cypher case concerns the alleged “misuse” of a diplomatic cypher, which former premier Imran used as evidence of a coup attempt while Qureshi served as foreign minister.