The Islamabad High Court (IHC) in Pakistan has rejected Imran Khan’s request for a cypher case hearing within the jail premises, directing him to approach the trial court, as per reports.
Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, in the IHC’s reserved verdict, emphasized the security concerns and stated that conducting the trial inside the jail favored Imran Khan, who had expressed repeated security worries.
The cypher controversy surfaced on March 27, 2022, just days before Imran Khan’s ouster in April 2022, when he displayed a letter, alleging it to be a cypher from an undisclosed foreign nation, calling for the removal of his government. The letter’s contents and the sender’s identity remained undisclosed.
However, Imran Khan later named the United States and accused US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs, Donald Lu, of seeking his removal. Imran Khan claimed he was reading contents from the cypher and asserted that “all will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power.”
On October 3, Imran Khan, the Chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court challenging the suspension of his interim bails in cases related to Toshakhana and 190 million pounds, as reported by ARY News. His temporary bail in the Toshakhana and 190 million pound cases was canceled when he failed to appear on August 10, leading to his imprisonment since August 5. The Islamabad High Court rejected his appeal against the conviction.
According to sources, a brief order was issued by a divisional bench led by Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and composed of Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri. In this brief ruling, the IHC ordered Imran Khan’s release on bail from Attock Jail, with the detailed reasons for suspending the sentence to be explained in a full ruling later. Imran Khan has notably requested the Islamabad High Court to overturn the accountability court’s judgment against him.
The former PM currently is incarcerated at Adiala Jail. An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad denied his bail requests in three cases due to his failure to appear in court. ATC Judge Abu Hassan issued the reserved decisions for the three cases, denying his bail requests.
(Inputs from ANI)