By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday ruled that the jail trial of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is accused of possessing a classified diplomatic cable, was illegal and ordered his transfer to a regular court.
The court accepted an appeal filed by Khan against a decision by a special court that had approved his trial in jail under the Official Secrets Act, a colonial-era law that carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
The special court had also directed the prison authorities to keep Khan in “judicial lockup” in the cipher case, even though the high court had suspended his sentence in another case.
The cipher case stems from a diplomatic document that the Federal Investigation Agency alleges was never returned by Khan when he was the prime minister. The diplomatic cable at the heart of the case was first mentioned by the former prime minister in March 2022 when he waved a letter at a public rally and claimed it was a cipher from a foreign nation calling for the end of his government, days before his removal from office.
The diplomatic dispatch had been scribbled by Pakistan’s then envoy to Washington after a conversation with a US State Department official who allegedly expressed objections to Khan’s policies and suggested that his continuity in office could strain bilateral relations between the two states.
Khan and his aide Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is also in jail, were indicted in the case on Oct. 23. Both have pleaded not guilty.
The high court had endorsed Khan’s indictment, but had also instructed the special court judge to ensure a “fair trial”. Last week, the court halted the trial proceedings against Mr. Khan while hearing his appeal.
The court also upheld the appointment of Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain, who is conducting Khan’s trial under the Official Secrets Act.
Khan’s lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, argued that the judge’s permission was mandatory for a jail trial and that the reasons for such a trial were not conveyed in the Aug. 29 documents.
He also said that the federal cabinet’s approval for the jail trial only came after the appeal was under way and that the judicial order for the jail trial was not issued yet.
The high court agreed with Raja’s arguments and declared the jail trial unlawful. The court also ordered the transfer of Khan’s case to a regular court.
A day before the cipher case hearing, a notification was issued by the law ministry, saying that the interior ministry had apprised it of “security concerns” related to the trial and pointing out it had “no objection” for the proceedings to be held in prison.
Khan’s lawyers opposed the decision and submitted a request for an open hearing amid concerns that their client might not get justice if his trial was carried out in prison.
Last month, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party also took the matter to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) where its plea was turned down by Chief Justice Aamir Farooq who said there was no malice behind the government’s decision to hold the jail trial.
This prompted Khan’s legal team to file an intra-court appeal against the decision which led to a stay order last week.
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