ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s petitions against his jail trial notification in the Toshakhana and Al-Qadir Trust cases.
A division bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri, on Tuesday, announced the verdict which it had reserved after hearing the arguments in Imran’s petitions against his jail trial notification in Toshakhana and Al-Qadir cases.
Imran filed the petitions through his counsel Sardar Latif Khosa advocate and cited the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and others as respondents in the case.
During the previous hearing, Khan’s counsel Advocate Shoaib Shaheen presented his arguments on the petitions. He adopted the stance that they do not say that the jail trial cannot be conducted but following the parameters [for it] is necessary. He said that the jail trial is held in extraordinary circumstances, which requires a judicial order in which the relevant judge states those extraordinary circumstances.
Opposing his arguments, the attorney general for Pakistan (AGP) said that the trial of NAB cases is being conducted in an open court at the Adiala prison, where the former prime minister remains incarcerated.
Shaheen contended that the NAB had no authority to write to the federal government seeking a jail trial. He added that if the NAB had any reason, it should have placed them before the relevant court and then the court would have decided after looking at these circumstances. He continued that a two-member bench of the IHC had given a decision on the same legal point in the cypher case, which has not been overruled by the Supreme Court and is binding on this court as well.
AGP Mansoor Awan informed the court that there were Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube screenshots that proved the media was being given access to the trial. Shoaib argued that there was no court order related to the jail trial. He said a notification was issued when the references had not even been filed, arguing that the malice was clear.
Imran’s petition stated that the notifications of jail trials in the cases, issued on November 14 and 28 respectively were “unlawful and malicious”. He prayed to the court that the jail trial notifications be nullified and urged the court to issue a stay order to halt the proceedings.
In his petition, the petitioner Imran impugned the notification dated 28.11.2023 issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice, according to which, the federal government had accorded approval that the “Accountability Court concerned” shall sit and conduct trial of the petitioner and others in Central Prison, Adiala Rawalpindi with reference to the case regarding misuse of authority and misappropriation/illegal sale of gifted State assets, etc under Section 16(b) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 (NAO).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024