Special court adjourns hearing on Imran Khan's bail plea till Sept 4

ISLAMABAD: A Special court formed to hear cases under the Official Secrets Act adjourned the hearing on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s petition seeking bail in the Cipher case till September 4, Geo News reported on Saturday.

Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain, who has been additional charge of the special court, conducted the in-camera hearing on the case.

Earlier, a special court in Islamabad on Tuesday ordered Attock Jail authorities — where the former premier is incarcerated — to keep the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chairman in judicial lockup in the cipher case.

Notably, the order comes hours after IHC suspended Imran Khan’s three-year sentence in the Toshakhana case. In a letter addressed to the Attock jail superintendent, the special court ordered jail authorities to produce Imran Khan on August 30 in connection with the cipher case.

“That accused Imran Khan Niazi s/o Ikramullah Khan Niazi r/o Zaman Park, Lahore is hereby ordered for judicial remand in case FIR mentioned above, who is already detained in district jail, Attock,” ARY News quoted the letter.

Recently, the PTI chief and party leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi were named in an FIR registered on August 5 under the Official Secrets Act. The verdict was reserved a day earlier after the completion of the arguments from the respondents.

According to Dawn News, the trial court in Islamabad had convicted the PTI chief in the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that involved concealing details of state gifts and jailed him for three years.

The verdict meant he was disqualified from contesting general elections for five years. Pakistan district and sessions court on August 5, sentenced Imran Khan to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case i.e. for illegally selling state gifts and disqualified him from politics for a period of five years, local media reported. He was lodged in Attock Jail in the Punjab province in the country.

The PTI Chairman was arrested from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore soon after being convicted in the Toshakhana case. The court also imposed a fine of Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 100,000 on Imran Khan, Geo News reported.