Cabinet okays Imran’s jail trial in cipher case

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has accorded approval to the jail trial of PTI chairman in the cipher case.

The approval was obtained from the cabinet over a summary of the Ministry of Law and Justice through circulation under which the trial of former prime minister Imran Khan, Shah Mehmood Qureshi and others will be conducted in the Adiala Jail in line with the Official Secrets Act.

The approval was obtained from the federal cabinet in light of the decision of judge Abual Hasnaat Zulqarnain of the special court established under the Official Secrets Act. The cabinet was informed about the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision on the nullification of jail trial of PTI chairman and others. Later, the government met all legal requirements to establish courts in connection with cipher and £190m pounds cases.

Also, the PTI chairman submitted a bail petition with the accountability court of Islamabad in the £190m scandal case. The NAB chairman and its director general have been made parties in the petition that was submitted on behalf of Imran Khan through lawyers Latif Khosa, Intezar Panjautha and Ali Ijaz.Accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir issued notices to the relevant parties. The petition maintains that the reputation of petitioner being a former prime minister and a well-known cricketer was being damaged by cases filed on political grounds. It further requests approving the post-arrest bail until a judgment on the £190 million scandal case.

NAB Prosecutor Sohail Arif received the notice in the courtroom and the hearing of the case was adjourned till December 4. On November 29, the Law Ministry issued a notification for Imran Khan’s trial in Adiala Jail in the Toshakhana and £190m scandal cases. The notification for prison trial was issued after the federal government’s approval. The document says the accountability court will conduct proceedings of the Toshakhana and £190 million scandal cases in Adiala Jail.

An IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri heard the appeal of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman. The PTI chairman’s lawyer, Latif Khosa Advocate, said the trial court announced its verdict in the Toshakhana case on August 5, and the ECP issued the notification for his client’s disqualification for five years on August 8. He said the general elections would be held on February 8, 2024, and his client had also been told to conduct intra-party elections within 20 days.

If the trial court’s decision was not suspended, it would affect the basic rights of his client and his party, he argued.

Khosa argued that only the people of Pakistan had the power to choose their representatives as per the Constitution. He prayed the court to suspend the decision of the trial court along with the sentence of PTI chairman.

The court inquired whether the petitioner wanted to amend the verdict regarding the suspension of his sentence, Khosa answered in the affirmative and prayed the court to review its verdict.

ECP counsel Amjad Pervaiz opposed the plea of PTI chairman, saying the IHC had already announced its verdict on a petition. The petitioner, he said, did not give references of court decisions when the case was decided. He prayed the court to grant a two-week time for arguments in the case. The chief justice remarked that the petitioner wanted the court to review the judgment.

ECP’s Amjad Pervaiz said that review could be done only if there was any mistake in a verdict and there was no error in the instant judgment.

The court asked the ECP’s lawyer to give written arguments and references of court verdicts and adjourned the hearing.

In a related development, the PTI chairman has submitted an amended application in the Supreme Court challenging the upholding of trial court’s decision in the cipher case by the Islamabad High Court.

Filed by Imran’s lawyer Hamid Ali Khan, the plea sought to declare the upholding of trial court’s decision of Oct 23, 2023, framing charges and subsequent trial in cipher case by the Islamabad High Court as illegal, unconstitutional and violative of criminal procedure code.

The plea has also sought to declare the cipher case proceedings as unconstitutional and asked for Imran’s acquittal.

Similarly, the IHC sought written arguments from the ECP’s lawyer in a case seeking suspension of the trial court’s judgment against the PTI chairman in the Toshakhana criminal case.