ISLAMABAD: Jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was denied an open court trial on Monday as ordered by a high court after the government submitted reports citing threats to his life, his lawyer said.
The court hearing the case later said Khan’s trial on the charge of leaking state secrets will be held in jail premises but will be open to media and the public, the lawyer said.
The Islamabad High Court had ruled last week that holding Khan’s trial inside jail premises on security concerns was illegal, and ordered it restarted in an open court.
Khan has denied the charges against him.
The 71-year-old former cricket star has been embroiled in a tangle of political and legal battles since he was ousted as prime minister. He has not been seen in public since he was jailed for three years in August for unlawfully selling state gifts while in office from 2018 to 2022.
Khan had been appearing in courts prior to his August arrest protected by his personal security guards. But he has also sought exemptions from personal appearances, often citing threats to his safety.
“Jail reports have been submitted citing that Imran Khan has life threats according to various intelligence and police reports,” said the lawyer, Naeem Panjutha, in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
A special court has been conducting the trial in prison since Khan was indicted on the charges last month.
The charges against Khan relate to a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in the United States last year, which Khan is accused of making public.
The graft conviction has put a five-year bar on Khan to contest elections. He denies any wrongdoing and has said all the charges against him, including the graft case and the leak of the cable, were cooked up at the behest of the military to block him from the Feb. 8 general election.
The military has dismissed Khan’s allegations.
The election is shaping as a fight between Khan’s party and that of another ousted former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.
Both leaders had fallen out with the military, which has ruled directly or overseen civilian governments since Pakistan’s creation in 1947.
Pakistan’s Imran Khan denied court-ordered public trial — lawyer
https://arab.news/mmq7s
Pakistan’s Imran Khan denied court-ordered public trial — lawyer
- Open trial denied despite high court orders, government submits reports on threats to Khan’s life
- Court rules retrial in jail open to public and media, Khan in the past cited life threats to seek exemptions
Pakistan warns India-Canada uranium deal could widen nuclear imbalance in South Asia
- Islamabad says assured uranium supplies could free India’s domestic reserves for military use
- Foreign office calls for non-discriminatory nuclear cooperation framework for non-NPT states
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday voiced concern over a uranium supply agreement and nuclear technology cooperation between India and Canada, warning the arrangement could expand India’s nuclear arsenal and undermine the global non-proliferation framework.
The statement came after Ottawa and New Delhi concluded a long-term deal covering uranium supplies and potential cooperation in advanced nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors.
The agreement was announced earlier this week as part of efforts by the two countries to deepen energy and economic ties. Canada has previously supplied uranium to India under a civilian nuclear cooperation framework first agreed in 2010 and implemented in 2013, with commercial supply contracts signed in subsequent years.
“Assured external uranium supplies effectively release India’s domestic reserves for military use, enabling the expansion of its fissile material stockpiles, accelerating the growth of its nuclear arsenal, and deepening existing asymmetries in South Asia’s strategic balance,” foreign office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said in a statement while responding to media queries.
“The arrangement also undermines Canada’s commitment to the international non-proliferation regime and its corresponding obligations under that framework,” he added.
Andrabi said the agreement represents another country-specific exception in civilian nuclear cooperation, noting that India’s 1974 nuclear test — conducted using plutonium produced in a Canadian-supplied research reactor — led to the creation of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
“A state whose actions necessitated the establishment of global export controls is now being granted preferential access under selective arrangements,” he added.
The foreign office spokesperson said India has not placed all of its civilian nuclear facilities under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and has not made binding commitments under the new arrangement to do so.
He also pointed out it was unclear what concrete non-proliferation assurances accompanied the agreement.
“Pakistan reiterates that civil nuclear cooperation must be governed by a non-discriminatory, criteria-based approach applicable equally to states that are not parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” Andrabi said.
“Selective exceptions diminish the credibility of the global non-proliferation framework and risk further destabilizing regional and global peace & security.”
