ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) reserved its judgment on Monday on a request by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that sought holding an in-camera hearing of former prime minister Imran Khan’s bail plea in the “cipher case,” his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said.
Cricketer-turned-politician Khan is charged with disclosing the contents of a confidential cable— which is popularly known as the “cipher case“--sent by Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States last year and using it for political gain, according to the FIA. Khan alleges the cable proves the United States had pressed Pakistan’s military to orchestrate the fall of his government because he had visited Russia shortly before its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Both Washington and the Pakistani military have denied Khan’s accusations.
Last week, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq passed an order stating that Khan’s bail application would be heard in an open court. On Sunday, the FIA filed an application at the IHC seeking an in-camera hearing of Khan’s bail plea. According to local media reports, the FIA feared an open hearing into the case would expose sensitive information and documents involved in the case.
“Court has reserved the decision on, if or not it should be an in-camera hearing,” Khan’s PTI party said in a statement. The PTI labelled the FIA’s move to seek an in-camera hearing of Khan’s bail plea “another gimmick” by the agency to keep the former prime minister behind bars for as long as possible.
“Because FIA could have advocated the in-camera hearing at an earlier stage (trial court) and not now when the bail petition hearing was getting in order,” the PTI added.
According to Geo News, the IHC reserved its verdict on the petition to hold an in-camera session after hearing arguments from both sides, with Justice Farooq stating that the court would announce a new date for the hearing.
Khan has been in jail since Aug. 5 after a trial court in Islamabad found him guilty of “corrupt practices” in a case involving the unlawful sale of state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022. However, he served his sentence at a high-security prison in Attock instead of Rawalpindi jail. On Aug. 29, the IHC dismissed Khan’s conviction in the sale of unlawful state gifts case but he continued to remain in prison for the cipher case.
Last Tuesday, the former prime minister was shifted from the Attock prison to Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on the IHC’s orders
On Saturday, the FIA filed a challan, or charge sheet, in a special court set up under the Official Secrets Act hearing the cipher case against Khan, declaring the PTI leader and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi as the principal accused.
