By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A special court on Monday indicted former prime minister Imran Khan and his top aide, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in a case accusing them of leaking official secrets for political gain, lawyers said.
The case, known as the cipher case, stems from an alleged diplomatic document that Khan says showed that his removal from office in a no-confidence vote in April last year was part of a US plot to oust him. Washington has denied any involvement.
Khan, who leads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, and Qureshi, the party’s vice chairman, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry a maximum jail term of 14 years, their lawyers said.
The court summoned witnesses to appear at the next hearing on October 27, when the trial is expected to begin.
Khan has been in jail since August after he was convicted in a separate case involving the sale of state gifts. He was later arrested in the cipher case as well.
The PTI condemned the indictment as a ‘political vendetta’ and said it would challenge it in a higher court.
“The PTI chairman and vice chairman have been charged in the cipher case by the special court established under a colonial law,” the party said in a statement. “It’s an indictment of its kind … Whereas, the dynamics of a trial include testimony taken before a court rules in the favor of the prosecutor.”
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), in its charge sheet, said Khan and Qureshi communicated the information to the “unauthorized persons (i.e., public at large) by twisting the facts to achieve their ulterior motives and personal gains in a manner prejudicial to the interests of state security”.
The case was registered against them under Sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, which deal with wrongful communication of information and obtaining or retaining documents likely to affect the security of Pakistan.
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