Imran Khan, Ex-Foreign Minister Qureshi to Be Indicted in Cipher Case Again on Dec 12 – News18

A special court in Pakistan on Monday ruled that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his close aide ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would be indicted again on December 12 in the cipher case for allegedly leaking state secrets and violating the laws of the country.

Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqernain heard the case in the Adiala Jail Rawalpindi where the two leaders were incarcerated.

The in-prison hearing of Khan, 71, and Qureshi, 67, began from the start on Saturday after a ruling by the Islamabad High Court last month declared the jail trial illegal on procedural grounds and also nullified its proceedings.

The judge said that fresh indictment was mandatory in the light of the Islamabad High Court judgment which declared all proceedings illegal after ruling against the jail trial on procedural grounds.

It resulted in a fresh process to initiate an in-prison trial of the due after completing all procedures and starting the case from the start.

Hence, it announced to indict them on the next hearing fixed for December 12.

Khan has been incarcerated at the high-security Adiala jail since September 26.

Qureshi was also arrested in the cipher (secret diplomatic cable) case and is imprisoned in the same prison.

The hearing of the cipher case was again shifted to jail after the order by the trial judge, followed by its approval by the Cabinet and notifications issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice as required under the law.

On Monday, Judge Zulqernain adjourned the hearing till December 12.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)