Pak court strikes down notification to keep Imran Khan in judicial lockup

The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday invalidated the Pakistani government’s official notification for the jailing of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the cipher case in which he is accused of leaking state secrets.

The two-member bench has given a reserved judgment on an intra-judicial appeal by the former prime minister against the verdict of the same court that had dismissed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman’s appeal against his trial in the United States . Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi.

The trial is being held at the Adiala jail, where 71-year-old Khan has been held since September 26 when he was transferred there from the district jail, Attock.

The Justice Ministry issued a no-objection certificate for the prison sentence against Khan on August 29, as requested by the Interior Ministry and Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain.

Earlier in the morning, the panel of Justices Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Saman Rafat Imtiaz of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) heard Khan’s intra-judicial appeal and reserved the verdict after completion of the hearing process.

According to the summary judgment, the government’s August 29 notice to postpone the prison sentence against Khan was declared unlawful. However, the court stated that there was no obstacle to the trial of a suspect in prison in case of extraordinary circumstances and that it was up to the judge to keep such trial open or behind closed doors.

The two-judge bench said the judge should give a verdict in favor of jail term and the government should issue a notice to this effect after the verdict.

According to the court’s summary judgment, the IHC accepted the intra-judicial appeal against the October 16 judgment of its one-man bench.

It also refused to give retroactive effect to the Cabinet decision of November 15 approving the prison sentence.

The court also confirmed the appointment of Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain, who is presiding over Khan’s trial under the Official Secrets Act.

There was some confusion over the impact of the verdict on the fate of Khan’s trial in prison, as the court accepted the appeal on procedural and technical grounds.

Senior lawyer Yasin Azad told Samaa TV after the verdict that the prison trial came to a standstill after the verdict, but the government can address the gaps in the pre-trial procedure. “The government can also appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court,” he said.

He also said the verdict will not affect the proceedings conducted so far, meaning Khan’s charges are still intact.

However, lawyer Abid Zuberi stated that by rejecting the prison sentence, the court also nullified all proceedings and actions taken so far during the prison case. “The verdict rejected the prison trial from the beginning,” he said.

Jehangir Jadoon, former Solicitor General of Islamabad, said the court allowed the appeal on technical grounds as it rejected the procedure adopted by the government for Khan’s jail term. “Some of the finer details will be clarified once the detailed verdict is delivered,” he said.

In March 2022, Khan and his Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi allegedly violated the country’s secrecy laws while processing a communication (cipher) sent by the Pakistani embassy in Washington. The diplomatic cable has reportedly disappeared from Khan’s possession.

The duo, who had alleged that the cable contained a threat from the United States to overthrow the PTI government, were charged on October 23. Their formal trial began two weeks ago with the recording of statements from the witnesses.

The IHC had upheld the charge when challenged by Khan. However, the IHC had suspended the trial until the ruling on the intra-judicial appeal.