Prosecution asked to explain what was purportedly written in the cypher

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) asked the prosecution to inform what was written in the cypher that was twisted by the appellants.

A special bench of Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the appeals of former prime minister Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi against their convictions in cypher and Toshakhana cases, and adjourned the hearing till Tuesday (today).

During the hearing, Khan’s counsel Barrister Salman Safdar, while arguing the case read out the speech of Qureshi in a public gathering of March 27.

Justice Miangul remarked that he could not get it. Upon that, Safdar said the trial court awarded 10 years sentence to him for this speech. Then, he also read out Khan’s speech. The judge said that it was only a political speech.

The counsel further said that Khan was alleged for illegally keeping the cypher and the trial court termed this act deliberate and negligence.

The IHC chief justice asked how both these allegations of deliberate or negligence could be leveled at the same time. He also asked the FIA Special Prosecutor, Hamid Ali Shah, to tell what was the communication in the cypher. Hamid replied that the cypher was classified.

Justice Farooq said that the court should know at least what was the communication as a person has been sentenced in this matter. He added that it should be informed what was written in communication that was twisted.

Khan’s counsel said that neither original nor twisted cipher had surfaced.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing until today (Tuesday).

In this matter, Khan, Bushra, and Qureshi moved the petitions through their counsels, Barrister Ali Zafar, Salman Safdar advocate, and others, and cited the State and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and interior secretary as respondents.

Khan and Qureshi have challenged the conviction and their 10-year sentence each in the cipher case. Khan and Bushra Bibi filed appeals against their conviction in the Toshakhana reference in which they were sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment each and a Rs 1.54 billion fine.

Khan’s counsel stated in the petition that the appellant along with the co-accused, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, faced trial in Case FIR No 06/23 dated 15.08.2023 (“Cypher Case”) under Sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 read with Section 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), 1860. The appellant was arrested on 15.08.2023 and is aggrieved with the conviction and sentence awarded in the instant case through judgment dated 30.01.2024 passed by Abul Hasnat Zulgarnain, Special Judge (Official Secrets Act, 1923), Islamabad.

Therefore, he prayed that the judgements passed by the NAB authorities and Special Judge in jail trials of Toshakhana and cypher cases be set aside, they be acquitted from charges and their sentence and conviction may be suspended.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024