In the Cypher case, IHC grants a stay of trial court proceedings

The trial of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan in the cipher case has been put on hold, according to a ruling issued by the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday.

The ruling was made public at the PTI chief’s intra-court appeal hearing, where he asked for the suspension of his jail trial in the cipher case. The court then ordered that the jail trial be stopped.

Additionally, the hearing on the intra-court appeal against the jail trial has been postponed by the IHC until November 16.

The hearing was presided over by Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Riffat Imtiaz, who make up the two-member bench.

In the petition, Khan has contested both the jail trial and Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain’s selection to preside over the case in the special court created by the Official Secret Act of 2023.

Salman Akram Raja, an attorney, represented Khan, while Mansoor Usman Awan, the attorney general of Pakistan, represented the state.

The judge said, “Just because a few family members are able to attend the hearing does not mean it is an open court hearing.”

He continued by saying that the indictment in the cipher case could not be described as an open court procedure because to the manner it was submitted.

The AGP informed the court at the hearing that the jail trial in the cipher case has been approved by the federal cabinet. “The court will receive the notification from the federal cabinet approving the prison trial.”

The judge said that the contents of that notification will be reviewed by the court. “It will be an unusual trial if it is held in the jail; all trials will take place in public.”

The AGP declared, “This is merely a jail trial—not an extraordinary trial.”

AGP Awan was questioned by the judge regarding the peculiar circumstances that warranted holding the trial in the jail.

In response, the AGP said he would gather documentation from all pertinent organizations and present it to the court.

The judge argued that, in retrospect, none of the three notices complied with the pertinent high court regulations.

“When, how, and what criteria was it decided that there would be a jail trial?” he questioned Awan.

Raja, Khan’s attorney, informed the court that five witnesses were still present in the jail to provide statement recordings.

The federal cabinet approved the jail trial two days ago, the judge said, adding that there are still a lot of questions to be addressed.

He questioned the state of the court processes prior to approval and questioned “why did the federal cabinet approve the jail trial?”

During the hearing, the judge stated that the murder case of Indira Gandhi was being tried in jail, but that reporters from the BBC and other media might cover it.

The deposed prime minister filed an IHC against the jail trial, which the court’s single bench dismissed on October 16. The prime minister was removed from office in April of last year as a result of a no-confidence motion.

The one-member bench led by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq declared that Khan’s detention trial in the cipher matter was being conducted without any apparent malice. In addition, the judge told him to go to the trial court if his doubts persisted.

Khan subsequently appealed the single bench’s ruling inside the court.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) used Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act 1923 to charge Khan and Qureshi in the cipher case in August of this year.

It is said that Imran lost custody of the diplomatic cable. The cable purportedly contained a threat from the US to overthrow the PTI administration, according to the former ruling party.

As a result of the special court’s indictment, Khan and Qureshi are being held in Adiala jail in connection with the cipher case.

Less than a month before he was removed from office in April 2022, on March 27, 2022, Imran Khan waved a letter in front of the crowd during a public rally. He claimed that the letter was a cipher from a foreign country that had plotted with his political rivals to topple the PTI government. This was when the controversy first surfaced.

He withheld the letter’s contents and the identity of the country it originated in. However, a few days later, he claimed that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had asked to have him removed and accused the US of plotting against him.

The cipher concerned Majeed, the former ambassador of Pakistan to the US, and his meeting with Lu.

“All will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power,” declared the former prime minister, purporting to be reading from the cipher.

After that, on March 31, the National Security Committee (NSC) decided to confront the US for its “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan” by sending a “strong demarche.”

Subsequent to his dismissal, the NSC met under the chairmanship of former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, and concluded that the cable included no evidence of a foreign conspiracy.

The former prime minister, then-federal minister Asad Umar, and then-principle secretary Azam Khan were purportedly overheard talking about the US cipher and how to exploit it to their benefit in the two audio leaks that went viral on the internet and startled the people following these events.

The federal cabinet formed a committee to look into the contents of the audio leaks on September 30, after taking notice of the situation.

The case was turned over to the FIA by the cabinet in October, when it approved taking legal action against the former prime minister.

Imran, Asad Umar, and other party leaders were summoned by the FIA after it was assigned the duty of investigating the situation; however, the PTI president objected to the summons and got a court order for a delay.

The stay order against Imran’s call-up notification from the FIA was recalled by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in July of this year.