The special court in Pakistan has accepted the Federal Investigation Agency’s plea for an in-camera trial of former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood in the cipher case. The case pertains to a diplomatic document that the FIA alleges was never returned by Imran, who has long held that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran as prime minister. The PTI has long held that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran as prime minister.
Imran and Qureshi were initially indicted in the case on Oct 23 and both had pleaded not guilty. The trial was being held at Adiala Jail and four witnesses had already recorded their statements when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) termed the government’s notification for a jail trial “erroneous” and scrapped the entire proceedings. As a result, the special court started fresh proceedings. On Monday, the former premier had challenged the process of his indictment in the cipher case in the IHC, urging it to halt the proceedings till deciding on the petition.
The special court, established under the Official Secrets Act 1923, had indicted Imran and Qureshi for a second time. However, the ex-premier’s legal team disputed the impression, with Barrister Salman Safdar saying that the court did not indict the two PTI leaders as none of them had signed any document. Officials in the prosecution had told Dawn that since the judge had told the accused persons about the charges, the process of indictment had been completed.
The FIA urged Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain to allow the trial to be held in-camera, which he accepted, despite ruling last month that the proceedings would continue at the Adiala Jail but in an open court. The next hearing would be heard in-camera, which it adjourned until tomorrow (Friday). It further ruled that family members of the suspects would be allowed to attend the hearing.
Qureshi’s daughter Mehr Bano asserted that an open trial was the “requirement of justice.”
The PTI vice-chairman’s counsel Barrister Taimur Malik told reporters that the charge sheet was “the same as the one the IHC dismissed”. The lawyer said the matter was now “ambiguous” and hoped for justice from the courts.
Prior to the hearing today, FIA Special Prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi told reporters that the witnesses in the case will be produced before the court. He further said that the FIA has filed a petition seeking an in-camera hearing of the case under section 14 (exclusion of public from proceedings) of the Secrets Act. The prosecutor insisted that regardless of whether the suspects had signed the charge sheet or not, the charges had been framed.