Imran Khan, the former prime minister, requested bail and the revocation of the First Information Report (FIR) in the cipher case, but the Islamabad High Court (IHC) denied his requests on Friday.
When both sides had finished their arguments, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq announced the court’s ruling.
In the prior session, Khan’s attorney, Sardar Latif Khosa, said that since the cipher had been declassified by the federal cabinet of the last prime minister, a FIR could not be filed against his client.
Under Article 248 of the Constitution, which includes actions done or alleged to be done by the president, governor, prime minister, federal minister, minister of state, chief minister, and provincial minister, Khosa went on to say that the former premier was immune from prosecution.
Barrister Salman Safdar, an additional PTI chairman’s attorney, argued during the hearing that Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act did not apply to the cipher case because it is only applicable when sharing sensitive information with foreigners, and this was not included in the FIR against the PTI chief.
In the case brought against him and the party vice chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, for abusing the sensitive material for political ends, Imran Khan contested the filing of the FIR and requested bail.
Both party leaders, who are presently being held at Adiala prison, were charged by a special court established under the Official Secrets Act.
Imran Khan’s efforts to suspend the trial in this case were similarly turned down by the IHC on October 26.
Charge document
The former prime minister and the former foreign minister were found guilty in the case, according to the charge sheet from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The FIA asked the court to hold a trial and impose punishments on them.
Asad Umar, the former secretary-general of the PTI, was not listed among the suspects by the FIA. Azam Khan, the former senior secretary of Imran Khan, was identified as a “strong witness” in the case, however. Azam’s remarks, which were documented in Sections 161 and 164 of the charge sheet, were appended by the FIA. Khan is charged with possessing and abusing the cipher.
The text of Khan and Qureshi’s speech on March 27, the day Khan presented the cipher as a letter from a foreign country demanding the overthrow of his government, was also included in the FIA. After recording the testimonies of the witnesses under Section 161, the FIA provided the court with a list of 28 witnesses along with the charge sheet.
Former foreign secretaries Sohail Mehmood and Asad Majeed, as well as the additional foreign secretary at the time, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, are among the witnesses.
Case of Cipher
The cipher case began on March 27, 2022, when Imran Khan delivered a letter at a public rally, just before he was removed from power in April 2022, saying it was a cipher from a foreign country that had plotted with his political adversaries to topple the PTI administration.
The identity of the country was not divulged, nor were the contents of the letter made public. A few days later, he said that Donald Lu, the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs, had requested his dismissal and accused the US of plotting against him.
The federal cabinet gave the FIA permission to take legal action against the former prime minister in October. Despite the fact that Khan, Umar, and other party officials had been called by the FIA, Khan had filed a challenge against the summons and won a judicial stay order.
