{"id":30351,"date":"2023-12-01T10:46:31","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T10:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/special-court-to-conduct-cipher-trial-of-imran-qureshi-at-adiala-jail-tomorrow\/"},"modified":"2023-12-01T10:46:31","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T10:46:31","slug":"special-court-to-conduct-cipher-trial-of-imran-qureshi-at-adiala-jail-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/special-court-to-conduct-cipher-trial-of-imran-qureshi-at-adiala-jail-tomorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"Special court to conduct cipher trial of Imran, Qureshi at Adiala jail tomorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>The special court on Friday said it would hear the cipher trial against former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at Adiala jail tomorrow after the law ministry notified the same.<\/p>\n<p>The cipher case pertains to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1769320\/leaked-cipher-hints-at-us-pressure-over-russia-visit\">diplomatic document<\/a> that the Federal Investigation Agency\u2019s charge sheet alleges was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1712744\">never returned<\/a> by Imran. The PTI has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1682104\">long held<\/a> that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran as prime minister.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"media  sm:w-1\/2  w-full  media--right  media--embed  media--uneven\">\n<p>    <iframe class=\"nk-iframe\" onload=\"setInterval(()=&gt;{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"height:400px;position:relative\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/card\/1794101\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The former premier and his aide Qureshi, who is also behind bars, were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1783241\/special-court-indicts-imran-qureshi-in-cipher-case\">indicted<\/a> in the case on Oct 23. Both have pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n<p>The trial was being held at Adiala Jail and four witnesses had already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1787431\">recorded<\/a> their statements, with the fifth being cross-examined when an Islamabad High Court division bench had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1791390\">termed<\/a> the government\u2019s notification for jail trial \u201cerroneous\u201d and scrapped the entire proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of the judgement, the special court would now start a fresh trial.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this week, Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1793226\">ruled<\/a> that the trial proceedings would continue at the Adiala jail but in an open court.<\/p>\n<p>Today, defence counsel Sikandar Zulqarnain and Qureshi\u2019s lawyer Ali Bukhari appeared before the special court at Islamabad\u2019s Federal Judicial Complex (FJC). Imran\u2019s sisters also reached the FJC, including Aleema Khan who appeared before the court.<\/p>\n<p>During the hearing, the court staff informed the judge that no notification from the law ministry to hold the trial at the Adiala jail had been received yet, to which the judge said he would decide once a notification had been issued.<\/p>\n<p>In case a notification was not issued, Judge Zulqarnain said he would issue production orders for Imran and Qureshi to be presented before the special court at the FJC.<\/p>\n<p>However, the law ministry\u2019s notification dated Nov 29 emerged, which granted \u201csanction for conducting the proceedings and trial\u201d of Imran and others in the cipher case at the Adiala Central Jail.<\/p>\n<p>The written order issued by the court, a copy of which is available with <em>Dawn.com<\/em>, said that Imran and Qureshi were not produced before the court at the previous hearing.<\/p>\n<p>It said that letters were also written to the Islamabad chief commissioner office and the Adiala jail superintendent for the \u201cnecessary sanctions and arrangements\u201d for conducting a jail trial. It further said that a response had been received in this regard and \u201csanction has been accorded\u201d by the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>Noting that the IHC had directed to conclude the trial within four weeks, the court said further proceedings would be conducted on Dec 2 at 9am \u201cregarding attendance of the accused persons as well as further proceedings\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"the-hearing\" href=\"#the-hearing\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>The hearing<\/h2>\n<p>At the outset of the hearing, the judge asked whether a notification had been received from the law ministry to hold the trial at Adiala jail, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1793226\">decided<\/a> by the court this week.<\/p>\n<p>The court staff then informed Judge Zulqarnain that no such notification had been received yet, to which the judge said he would decide once a notification had been issued.<\/p>\n<p>Here, Bukhari argued that there was \u201cno report to the extent\u201d of Qureshi and urged the court to present his client in the court. Barrister Taimur Malik also said both PTI leaders should have been presented before the court today.<\/p>\n<p>The judge directed them to read the previous hearing\u2019s order, which they complied with.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Zulqarnain said, \u201cWe will review [the matter] once the notification to hold a jail trial arrives. If the jail trial notification does not come, then we will issue production orders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sikandar then recalled that the special court reviewed its own order of Nov 23 that called for the PTI leaders to be presented in court. The judge again asked the lawyer to read the court\u2019s Nov 28 order, wherein he would \u201cfind the answers to all questions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The defence counsel also asserted that the same order was \u201clegally incorrect\u201d as the Adiala jail was a \u201cprohibited area\u201d where videography and photography were not allowed. He said, \u201cIt should be decided that journalists will be allowed to enter the courtroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here, Judge Zulqarnain asked if it was the \u201ccourt\u2019s authority to review matters regarding threats\u201d, to which Sikandar said that an additional inspector general voicing concerns was not enough and relevant reports should also be present.<\/p>\n<p>The judge then noted that there were security reports attached to the Adiala jail superintendent\u2019s letter that was submitted to the court earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Zulqarnain observed that the presence of journalists during the hearing was \u201cnecessary\u201d, to which Sikandar said that the court would need to term the jail as a court as well as declare it an \u201cunprohibited place\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The judge then reassured the lawyers that journalists would be present.<\/p>\n<p>Here, Qureshi\u2019s counsel argued that the Nov 28 order was \u201cincomplete\u201d as it did not mention any directives regarding his client, to which the judge noted that Imran was the prime suspect whereas Qureshi was co-accused.<\/p>\n<p>Bukhari also asserted that the order did not list the reasons for conducting the hearing in jail, arguing that the special court was bound to follow the IHC\u2019s orders.<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cEverything, including the indictment and distribution of [charge sheet] copies, should be done in the presence of the suspects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here, Judge Zulqarnain said, \u201cNot only will justice be done but it will be seen as well.\u201d He noted that the special court was bound to conduct the jail trial but the hearing was \u201csubject to the jail\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The judge reiterated that he waiting for the law ministry\u2019s notification, to which the defence counsel said to \u201cshift the court to the jail\u201d. The court noted that the IHC had not declared the trial illegal due to the proceedings but because of it not being held in an open court.<\/p>\n<p>The defence counsel argued that it was \u201cunlawful\u201d to keep Imran and Qureshi detained after the Nov 28 order of the special court.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Zulqarnain then directed the lawyers to wait for the law ministry\u2019s notification. At this point, Imran\u2019s sister Aleema came to the rostrum and asked when the notification was expected to arrive.<\/p>\n<p>The judge replied, \u201cIf the law ministry\u2019s notification does not arrive, I will ask for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the hearing resumed after a break, the judge said the law ministry\u2019s notification had arrived and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow, noting that the IHC also had to be informed.<\/p>\n<p>The PTI lawyers requested the court to fix the hearing for Dec 5 while the Federal Investigation Agency\u2019s prosecutor urged for the trial to be held today at the Adiala jail.<\/p>\n<p>However, the judge adjourned the hearing till tomorrow (Saturday) along with a plea pertaining to the production of the PTI leaders in court.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The special court on Friday said it would hear the cipher trial against former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at Adiala jail tomorrow after the law ministry notified the same. The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document that the Federal Investigation Agency\u2019s charge sheet alleges was never returned by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/12\/0111100838d0c00.jpg?r=112633","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-islamabad-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}