The hearing of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s bail request in the cipher case will take place in open court, but “sensitive information” will be addressed behind closed doors, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) said on Wednesday.
The judgement was made as the IHC rejected the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) request for in-camera deliberations about the PTI chief’s bail bid in the case.
The diplomatic document that allegedly vanished from Imran’s possession is the subject of the cipher case. According to the PTI, it featured a US threat to remove the party head from power.
On August 5, 2023, Imran was transferred to the Attock prison after a judge gave him a three-year prison term in the Toshakhana graft case. It was discovered that he had been held on judicial remand in the cipher case after the sentence was suspended.
The PTI leader was moved from Attock district jail to Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail on the IHC’s instructions on September 26, and both PTI leaders’ judicial remand was prolonged till October 10.
Imran and Qureshi were identified as the primary defendants in the cipher case in a challan (charge sheet) that the FIA submitted on September 30 to the Special Court created under the Official Secrets Act.
An open hearing of the PTI chief’s bail application in the cipher case could put a “risk of deteriorating relations with other countries,” according to the FIA, which requested in-camera proceedings earlier this week.
The ex-premier and ex-foreign minister’s jail trial in the cipher case was announced by the Ministry of Law and Justice a day ago.
The letter noted the Judge Special Court’s request (Official Secrets Act) and indicated that the “Law and Justice Division has ‘No Objection’ to the accused’s jail trial in which he is confined, under the Official Secrets Act.”
The PTI, however, insisted that the case be tried in open court and refused the law ministry’s order to hold the party chairman’s trial in Adiala jail.
Imran’s bail plea will be heard in open court, according to IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, who today announced the reserved verdict on the FIA’s case.
The court did specify that the hearing will take place in secret “upon sensitive information or documents being brought on record.”
Hearing adjourned after lawyer calls jail trial “unconstitutional”
In the meantime, Imran and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s closed-door trial in the cipher matter has been dubbed “unconstitutional” by PTI attorney Barrister Salman Safdar.
He said this while speaking to the reporters outside of the Adiala jail, where the hearing for the cipher case was ruled over by the special court and postponed till October 9.
Imran’s attorney Naeem Haider Panjutha stated that the legal team would soon meet with the party head before to today’s session.
ابھی عمران خان صاحب سے لیگل ٹیم کی ملاقات ہو گی.
— Naeem Haider Panjutha (@NaeemPanjuthaa) October 4, 2023
The hearing took place today in the Adiala jail, where Imran and Qureshi are being held at the moment, under the direction of Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain.
After that, both politicians were brought before the judge, who would then deliver copies of the challan (charge sheet) to the suspects.
Safdar claims that the PTI’s legal counsel asked the court to postpone today’s hearing since the Islamabad High Court (IHC) was also hearing a related case.
The hearing was therefore postponed until October 9 and the suspects were not given copies of the charge sheet today.
Speaking to the journalists outside the jail, Safdar claimed that “this trial is being kept secret as well,” adding that “Imran’s arrest and remand in the case were also kept secret.”
“The trial shouldn’t be conducted in secret. He proclaimed that it was unconstitutional and requested openness and transparency in the case’s proceedings. A closed trial, according to the attorney, would violate Article 10A of the Constitution (the right to a fair trial).
imposing a total ban on testimony, the public, loved ones, and even attorneys, allowing just one or two attorneys to attend, the barrister stated. He stated that a “very small courtroom” was used for the trial.
In-camera procedures, according to Safdar, might be taken into consideration for a portion of the hearings “where the judge deemed it necessary, but not for the entire proceedings”.
Safdar added that the PTI chairman forbade him from “making any kind of deal” despite the fact that a meeting between the attorneys and the imprisoned former PM was permitted for a little period of time today. “The PTI chairman took Donald Lu’s name,” he continued.
In a post on X (previously Twitter), Panjutha stated that the defense team had asked the court to halt the trial until a decision had been made regarding a plea seeking to revoke the notification that permitted the special court to be moved to the jail.
ہماری طرف سے عدالت میں درخواست دی گئی ہے کہ جب تک جیل کے اندر کورٹ کو ٹرانسفر کے نوٹیفکشن کو کالعدم قرار دینے کا فیصلہ نہیں ہو جاتا تب تک ٹرائل کو روکا جاۓ،کیونکہ اسلام آباد ہائی کورٹ نے فیصلہ محفوظ کیا ہوا ہے ابھی تک فیصلہ نہیں آیا،سماعت 9 اکتوبر تک ملتوی ہو گئی ہے.ویسے عجیب…
— Naeem Haider Panjutha (@NaeemPanjuthaa) October 4, 2023
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