Shah Mehmood Qureshi and the founder of the PTI will be presenting their appeals against their conviction in the cipher case to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday.
Due to its inability to hold a hearing on Tuesday, a division bench led by Chief Justice Amir Farooq and comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb will take up the appeals.
The court has requested information from the jail administration regarding the visits of those lawyers to Adiala Jail and from the Islamabad Advocate General regarding the appointment of state attorneys.
Both Qureshi and the founder of the PTI have contested their convictions and 10-year sentences in this case.
The appellant and co-accused Qureshi were prosecuted under Sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, in conjunction with Section 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860, according to the PTI founder’s attorney. The appellant, who was taken into custody on August 15, 2023, feels wronged by the judgment and punishment handed out by Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain, Special Judge (Official Secrets Act, 1923), Islamabad, on January 30, 2024.
He argued that the trial court did not step in to address the appellant’s repeated concerns and that the prosecution had incorrectly documented evidence in breach of the mandatory provisions stated in the Criminal Procedure Code 1898.
