{"id":49876,"date":"2024-01-19T14:39:28","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T14:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/govt-moves-sc-against-ihc-order-declaring-imrans-cipher-trial-in-jail-illegal\/"},"modified":"2024-01-19T14:39:28","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T14:39:28","slug":"govt-moves-sc-against-ihc-order-declaring-imrans-cipher-trial-in-jail-illegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/govt-moves-sc-against-ihc-order-declaring-imrans-cipher-trial-in-jail-illegal\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt moves SC against IHC order declaring Imran\u2019s cipher trial in jail illegal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<p>The caretaker government on Friday approached the Supreme Court challenging the Islamabad High Court\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1791207\">November 21 verdict<\/a> declaring former prime minister Imran Khan\u2019s jail trial in the cipher case illegal.<\/p>\n<p>The petition, filed by the ministries of law and interior, contended that the IHC order was \u201cnot in consonance with the law\u201d and \u201ctravelled beyond the jurisdiction\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>It must be noted that on August 29, the IHC had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1772860\">suspended<\/a> the PTI chief\u2019s sentence in the Toshakhana case, but a special court established under the Official Secrets Act had directed jail authorities to keep Imran in \u201cjudicial lockup\u201d in the cipher case.<\/p>\n<p>A notification issued by the law ministry the same day had stated that the Law and Justice Division had \u201cno objection\u201d to Imran\u2019s trial in the cipher case being held at Attock jail. In September, Imran was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1778114\">shifted<\/a> to Adiala jail.<\/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 long held that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran as prime minister.<\/p>\n<p>The former premier and his aide Shah Mahmood Qureshi 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 pleaded not guilty.<\/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\/1791390\" sandbox=\"allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>However, on Nov 21, an IHC division bench \u2014 comprising Justice Mian\u00adgul Hassan Aur\u00adangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz \u2014 had declared Imran\u2019s intra-court appeal against a single-member bench\u2019s decision approving his jail trial in the cipher case as maintainable.<\/p>\n<p>The bench had termed the government\u2019s notification for a jail trial \u201cerroneous\u201d and scrap\u00adped the entire proceedings.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, Imran and Qureshi\u2019s indictments in the case stood null and void, and the trial was conducted again in open court. Charges were subsequently framed against them for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1797536\">second time<\/a> on Dec 14.<\/p>\n<p>The plea filed in the apex court today, a copy of which is available with <em>Dawn.com<\/em>, named Imran, FIA director general, Islamabad police chief, district magistrate\/deputy commissioner of Islamabad, Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain of the special court established under the Official Secrets Act and superintendents of Adiala and Attock jails as respondents in the case.<\/p>\n<p>In the petition, the government raised a number of questions, including the legality of the IHC proceedings and the maintainability of Imran\u2019s appeal.<\/p>\n<p>It argued that the high court\u2019s order was \u201cnot sustainable\u201d as the ex-premier\u2019s appeal was \u201cnot competent\u201d and the \u201cassumption of jurisdiction\u201d by the IHC divisional bench was \u201cerroneous\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHence, the impugned order dated 21.11.2023 is liable to be set aside,\u201d the petition prayed, elaborating that Imran\u2019s intra-court appeal was \u201cnot competent\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDivisional Bench of the hon\u2019ble Islamabad High Court, Islamabad has traveled beyond the jurisdiction and relief not claimed in the writ petition was also allowed,\u201d  the application contended.<\/p>\n<p>Further, it said the IHC order was \u201cnot maintainable in the eye of law\u201d and the high court had gone beyond the prayer made in the petition.<\/p>\n<p>Citing previous apex court orders, the plea stated that \u201cproceeding is something having the backing of judicial order or judicial process\u201d and \u201caction of the executive cannot be termed as proceedings in any manner whatsoever\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Official Secret Act does not revolve around ouster of some secrets and if unauthorised ouster of secret can be made public by way of judicial proceedings conducted in public may prejudice the national security and might adversely affect the state sovereignty,\u201d the government said.<\/p>\n<p>It added that Section 14 [exclusion of public from proceedings] of Official Secret Act, 1923 was not properly discussed by the IHC bench. \u201c[The] principle of open trial has not been rightly applied in the cases of Official Secret Act and the intention of legislature in introducing Section 14 of OSA was to protect state-level secrets,\u201d the petition stated.<\/p>\n<p>The plea further said that the \u201cdoctrine of open trial in a secret matter like a cipher is injurious to the entire scheme of law\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is respectfully submitted that leave to appeal may please be<br \/>\ngranted from the impugned judgment dated 21.11.2023 passed by Divisional Bench of Islamabad High Court, Islamabad in ICA No.367\/2023 in the interest of justice,\u201d it concluded.<\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"ihcs-nov-21-order\" href=\"#ihcs-nov-21-order\" class=\"heading-permalink\" aria-hidden=\"true\" title=\"Permalink\"\/>IHC\u2019s Nov 21 order<\/h2>\n<p>In its order, the IHC had said the law ministry\u2019s notification of August 29 to conduct the trial in jail was \u201cwithout lawful authority\u201d and had \u201cno legal effect\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The requirements \u2014 to conduct the trial in jail \u2014 provided in Section 352 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Rule 3 in Part-A of Chapter-1 in Volume-III of the Rules and Orders of the Lahore High Court were not met, the order had reasoned.<\/p>\n<p>The rule in question states: \u201cThe place where a criminal court is held shall be deemed an open court to which the public generally may have access so far as the same can conveniently contain them,\u201d but the discretion to exclude the public from the ordinary courtroom rests with the presiding magistrate. When, however, the presiding magistrate, for any reason, excludes the public by holding his Court in a building such as a jail, to which the public is not admitted (and he is not entitled to do so without permission of the Department concerned) he should obtain the sanction of Government thereto, through the District Magistrate, and should inform the High Court that sanction has been accorded.\u201c<\/p>\n<p>In its August notification, the ministry had cited \u201csecurity concerns\u201d to justify the trial in Attock jail. Later, proceedings continued at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi when Mr Khan was relocated there following a court order.<\/p>\n<p>The subsequent notifications for the jail trial issued on September 25 and October 13 were also declared void, for the same reasons.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the court had found that the notifications issued on November 13 and 15, following the federal cabinet\u2019s approval of the jail trial, were also \u201cof no legal consequence.\u201d The federal cabinet\u2019s decision had a retrospective effect, which was \u201cerroneous\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsequently, the proceeding with effect from August 29, 2023, and the trial conducted \u2026 in jail premises in a manner that cannot be termed an open trial stand vitiated,\u201d the bench had noted.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The caretaker government on Friday approached the Supreme Court challenging the Islamabad High Court\u2019s November 21 verdict declaring former prime minister Imran Khan\u2019s jail trial in the cipher case illegal. The petition, filed by the ministries of law and interior, contended that the IHC order was \u201cnot in consonance with the law\u201d and \u201ctravelled beyond [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49877,"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\/2024\/01\/191525127571a1d.jpg?r=152547","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49876","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=49876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}