IHC directs Imran to approach special court against jail trial

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed PTI Chairman Imran Khan to approach the special court against his jail trial in the cipher case.

The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document that reportedly went missing from Imran’s possession. The PTI alleges that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Khan from office.

The PTI chief was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison in the Toshakhana graft case on August 5, 2023. He was subsequently shifted to Attock jail, but the IHC later suspended his sentence. However, Khan remained in jail because he was on judicial remand in the cipher case.

On September 25, the IHC accepted Imran’s petition to be shifted to Adiala jail in Rawalpindi from Attock district jail.

On September 30, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted a challan —a charge sheet — in the Special Court established under the Official Secrets Act, naming the former prime minister and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi as the principal accused in the cipher case.

Imran has filed several petitions in the IHC, including one seeking to stay his jail trial in the cipher case, another seeking to suspend the Toshakhana verdict, and a third against his indictment in the cipher case, which is set for October 17.

Today, the IHC disposed of the plea against the holding of the cipher case trial in Adiala Jail, directing Imran to approach the special court instead for the same.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq announced the reserved verdict today.

The verdict stated that the jail trial was “in favour” of the former premier keeping in mind security-related matters. “There is no ill will apparent on the matter of jail trial,” it observed.

The order recalled that Imran had voiced his reservations relating to his security “numerous times”. “If the PTI chairman has reservations about the jail trial, he may approach the trial court,” the order stated.

The plea

On October 4, Imran, through Advocate Sher Afzal Marwat, had approached the IHC against the holding of the cipher case trial in Adiala Jail.

The application, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, made the state a respondent in the case. Its title had stated it was filed under section 151 (saving of inherent powers of court) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

It had urged the court to restrain the respondents from “issuing any order like the one dated Oct 3, 2023 or any order in future for holding trial of Mr Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi in cipher case in Adiala Jail”.

The plea had cited the notification issued by the law ministry a day ago, which had allowed Imran’s trial in the cipher case to be held in the Adiala jail due to security reasons cited by the Interior Division.

The notification had stated that the Law and Justice Division had “no objection” to the jail trial of the accused “till his security clearance” was issued.

Imran’s application to the IHC had recalled that the same matter was “debated/argued” before the IHC, which it said had to decide the jurisdiction or authority of the law ministry to issue the No-Objection Certificate (NOC) and “to construe as to whether the NOC could be deemed as a binding order” for the special court judge to shift the trial to Adiala Jail.

The plea had argued that the “matter would be rendered infructuous” if the said notification was not suspect or if the respondents were not restrained from issuing an identical order in the future.