• Court says it would first issue notices before issuing an order.
• IHC issues notice to govt on Khan’s plea against trial.
• PTI founder’s lawyer says legal procedure wasn’t followed.

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Thursday turned down the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s petition seeking a stay on the in-camera trial of the cipher case.

The former PTI chief, who remains behind bars, had last week moved the IHC against his indictment in the cipher case as well as its proceedings by the special court, established under the Official Secrets Act.

However, Khan’s plea requesting a stay on the trial, filed by his lawyer Usman Gul, was rejected by IHC’s Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb. The court said it would first issue notices before issuing an order pertaining to the matter.

In this regard, the IHC issued notice to the federation and asked Khan’s lawyer Usman Gul to submit all necessary documents related to the cipher trial at the next hearing.

Highlighting the alleged irregularities in the cipher case, the PTI counsel contended in the court that a first information report (FIR) was lodged before the filing of a complaint.

The judge asked the PTI founder’s lawyer what the point of the petition was. “The point is that the legal procedure was not completed before the indictment,” said the lawyer, responding to the judge.

He said that a legally authorised official can file a complaint directly in court.

“You are saying that an authorised officer can file a complaint directly,” asked the judge.

The PTI founder’s lawyer requested that the IHC direct the trial court to conduct the hearing of the case after five or six days. “The trial court can complete the trial in the meantime,” he added.

“How many witness statements have been completed so far?” the judge questioned.

The lawyer responded by saying that statements of 25 witnesses have been recorded, while cross-examination of three has been completed out of the total 27 witnesses.

The cipher trial being conducted on a daily basis, the PTI counsel told the court.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi received the notice in the courtroom.

Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan also appeared in the court and informed that the statements of 25 witnesses have been recorded in the cipher trial.

PTI lawyer Salman Akram Raja, who joined the hearing via videolink, said statements of many witnesses were recorded after the judgment of this court.

Judge Aurangzeb said: “I can’t ignore the court’s previous proceedings regarding the cipher case. I am concerned about the way the cipher trial is being conducted.”

The court acknowledged that the trial court judge conducted the hearing early because he was ordered to do so.

Expressing concerns over in-camera trial, the IHC judge observed that a special court judge should have ordered conducting an open trial on every hearing of the case.

To which, the AGP told the court that media is allowed to cover the trial proceedings.

“Was the cross-examination of witnesses carried out in the presence of the media,” Justice Aurangzeb inquired.

The AGP said the statements of three witnesses were related to code and decode of the diplomatic cable, adding that the foreign secretary statement will also be recorded in the in-camera proceedings.

The judge remarked that the cipher trial is being conducted in haste, termed the trial first of its kind.

“The importance of open hearings is not clear to the special court judge, nor to the prosecutors,” the court maintained.

The court added that it has to be seen whether the right to fair trial under Article 10-A is granted in such cases or not.

“What facts were [presented] before the Supreme Court when bail was granted?” the IHC judge asked.

There were statements from 13 witnesses before the SC, the AGP responded. “The Supreme Court was looking into the bail matter,” he added.

“This clarifies [my statement],” Justice Aurangazeb said.

The apex court said that there is not enough material before them to deny bail, the IHC judge added.

Both Khan and his party’s Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi were granted post-arrest bail in the cipher case by the Supreme Court on December 22, 2023.

The former prime minister and the ex-foreign minister were directed to submit a surety bond of Rs1 million each in the cipher case related to the misuse of diplomatic cable for political purposes.

On December 13, the PTI founder and vice-chairman were indicted in the cipher case again by the special court established under the Official Secrets Act 2023 after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared their jail trial null and void.

Both politicians have pleaded not guilty to their involvement in the offence related to the alleged misuse of diplomatic cable for political purposes.

Ciphergate

The controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Khan — less than a month before his ouster in April 2022 — while addressing a public rally waved a letter before the crowd, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation that had conspired with his political rivals to have PTI government overthrown.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor did he mention the name of the nation it came from. But a few days later, he accused the United States of conspiring against him and alleged that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.

The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Majeed’s meeting with Lu.

The former prime minister, claiming that he was reading contents from the cipher, said that “all will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power”.

Then on March 31, the National Security Committee (NSC) took up the matter and decided to issue a “strong demarche” to the US for its “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.

Later, after his removal, then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the NSC, which concluded that it had found no evidence of a foreign conspiracy in the cable.

In the two audio leaks that took the internet by storm and shocked the public after these events, the former prime minister, then-federal minister Asad Umar, and then-principle secretary Azam could allegedly be heard discussing the US cipher and how to use it to their advantage.

On September 30, the federal cabinet took notice of the matter and constituted a committee to probe the contents of the audio leaks.

In October, the cabinet gave the green signal to initiate action against the former prime minister and handed over the case to the FIA.

Once FIA was given the task to probe the matter, it summoned Khan, Umar, and other leaders of the party, but the PTI chief challenged the summons and secured a stay order from the court.

The Lahore High Court (LHC), in July this year, recalled the stay order against the call-up notice to Khan by the FIA.