Cipher case: Pak court adjourns hearing against Imran Khan, Qureshi until Nov 7

ISLAMABAD: A special court in Pakistan on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of the cipher case until November 7 against jailed former prime minister Imran Khan without recording statements of any of the 10 witnesses.

Khan, 71, was arrested in August after a case was filed against him for disclosing a secret diplomatic cable (cipher) sent by the country's embassy in Washington in March last year. A special court in Pakistan last week indicted him along with his close ally ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the case.

Ten witnesses had come to record statements against Khan and co-accused Qureshi in the case. They were brought by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) which had registered the case against Khan and Qureshi in August for violating the secret laws of the country by allegedly divulging details of the official diplomatic communication.

Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain, who heard the case, ordered his staff to mark the attendance of the witnesses and the accused. Later, he decided to adjourn the hearing and summoned the witnesses again on November 7.

The hearing was held in the high-security Adiala jail in Rawalpindi where Khan and Qureshi were present with their lawyers. Prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi was also present to lead the government side in the case.

The two accused have pleaded not guilty.

Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, challenged his indictment in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) which rejected his petition.

Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, however, directed that Khan be provided a "fair trial".

The FIA on September 30 filed the charge sheet against Khan and Qureshi who signed its copies.

The FIA invoked in the charge sheet sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act which may lead to a death sentence, or two to 14 years' imprisonment if convicted.

Khan, who served as prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to April 2022, is accused of "misuse the contents of the cipher" to build a narrative that his government was ousted due to a foreign conspiracy hatched by the US, a charge denied by Washington.

The charge sheet added that Qureshi aided and abetted Khan and therefore was liable for the act in the same manner.

Khan and several of his party leaders have been facing numerous cases since the ouster of the party from power in April 2022 and later in the wake of the May 9 violence.

More than 150 cases have been registered against Khan since his ouster from power in April last year.

Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. He was incarcerated on August 5 this year, after an Islamabad court sentenced him to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case. He was lodged in the Attock District Jail to serve his prison term.

Later, his sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court, but then he was arrested in the cipher case and remained in the Attock jail on judicial remand. He was later shifted to Adiala jail.