The court once again postponed the hearing in the cipher case against Imran
ISLAMABAD: A special court in Pakistan on Friday adjourned the hearing of the CIFAR case against former Prime Minister Imran Khan till November 14 without any further proceedings.
The special court headed by Justice Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain heard the case in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where Khan has been kept since September 26, when he was transferred there from District Jail, Attock.
“The hearing of Sifar case in Adiala jail was adjourned till Tuesday, November 14 without any proceedings,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a statement.
Khan, 71, was arrested in August this year after a case was registered against him for disclosing a secret diplomatic cable (cipher) sent by the country’s embassy in Washington in March last year.
The trial is being conducted under the Official Secrets Act and the court recorded the statements of witnesses on November 7, the last hearing day. It is not clear how many of the 10 witnesses recorded their statements.
The former prime minister and his close aide, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, 67, were convicted on October 23 of leaking a diplomatic cable and violating the country’s secrecy laws. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered a case against co-accused Khan and Qureshi in March 2022 in connection with the document sent by the country’s Washington embassy.
On 31 October, the special court adjourned the hearing of the Cipher case to 7 November without recording the statement of any of the 10 witnesses.
Khan, the PTI chairman who served as Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to April 2022, is accused of “misusing the contents of the cipher” to create a narrative that his government was involved in a foreign conspiracy hatched by the US. Was removed due to. An allegation denied by Washington. He was arrested on 5 August.
Earlier, the FIA had filed its charge sheet against the duo under the Official Secrets Act, 1923 on September 30.
According to the charge sheet, Khan had violated the Official Secrets Act by illegally possessing a diplomatic cipher. At that time, Qureshi was accused of facilitating Khan as foreign minister.
