PTI chairman moves SC for bail in cipher case

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and PTI chairman approached the Supreme Court (SC), seeking post-arrest bail in missing cipher case, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Imran, who is incarcerated at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, filed the plea through his counsel Salman Safdar.

In his plea, the PTI chairman urged the apex court to overturn IHC order in cipher case and set him free.

Earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued a stay order against the jail trial of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman in the cipher case.

A two-member bench of Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Raffat announced the decision on the former prime minister’s plea.

Justice Aurangzeb remarked that the notifications issued by the federal government for the jail trial seemed to be prima facie against high court rules. He also said that many questions needed to be answered about the trial.

The judge also remarked that while IHC’s chief justice had been consulted, the special court was created through an executive order.

Read more: PTI chairman’s bail rejected in cipher case

The attorney general told the court that the federal cabinet had approved the jail trial in the cipher case and the notification would be presented in court.

The IHC judge also remarked that the federal cabinet had only approved the jail trial two days ago which raised questions over the status of the trial that had already taken place.

The judge also asked under what conditions had the decision for jail trial been taken.

Cipher case

The first information report (FIR) was registered on August 15 under the Official Secrets Act. It was registered on the complaint of the Home Secretary.

Former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were nominated in the report, while names of former principal secretary Azam Khan and former planning minister Asad Umar were also mentioned.

Read more: Cipher case: Witnesses list against PTI chief surfaces

The FIR stated that the former prime minister and foreign minister distorted the facts of the diplomatic cipher. “A conspiracy was launched to misuse the contents of the cipher to fulfill nefarious purposes”, it added. It further stated that the former premier and top diplomat endangered the state interests.