Pakistan: Imran Khan to remain behind bars till September 13 in cypher case

According to sources cited by Geo News, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, will remain in custody as a special court, operating under the Official Secrets Act, has extended his judicial remand in a case involving a classified document (referred to as the cypher case) until September 13. The hearing for this case took place at Attock District Jail and was presided over by Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnai.

During a political gathering prior to his removal from office the previous year, Imran Khan had displayed this classified state document. The hearing at the Attock District Jail was conducted due to security concerns raised by the Interior Ministry, following approval from the Law Ministry.

Imran Khan has been incarcerated since August 5 due to the Toshakhana case, in which he was charged with not properly disclosing gifts he had received while in office. Similarly, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Vice Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was arrested on August 19 in relation to the same cypher case. He is scheduled to appear at the judicial complex today after completing a two-day remand. Qureshi is being represented in court by PTI leader and lawyer, Babar Awan.

Earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had recently ordered the release of Imran Khan on bail in the Toshakhana case, suspending his conviction and three-year jail sentence. However, he remains detained due to the ongoing cypher case. The IHC bench, comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahan­giri, issued this order in response to Imran Khan’s appeal against the prison sentence handed down by the trial court in Islamabad.

The original conviction resulted from a case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), which accused Khan of concealing details about state gifts and subsequently sentenced him to three years in jail, rendering him ineligible to participate in general elections for a period of five years.

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