Three witnesses testify against Imran, Qureshi

ISLAMABAD: Three witnesses recorded their statements in the cipher case against former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Adiala Jail on Tuesday.

Special Court of Official Secrets Act Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain heard the case. During the hearing, Barristers Salman Safdar, Taimur, Gohar Ali Khan and others while Special Prosecutors Shah Khawar, Zulfikar Abbas Naqvi and Raja Rizwan Abbasi appeared in the court. The court called three more witnesses in the next hearing.

The hearing of the case was adjourned until November 10. Before recording the statements and cross-examination, the lawyers met Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Besides, the PTI chairman met with his wife, Bushra Bibi, and sisters, Aleema Khan, Noreen Khanum and Uzma Khan, in the jail.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s daughter, Mehrabano, talking to the media outside the jail, demanded justice and fair trial. “Let the family in; no one can have security concerns from their family. Fair trial is my father’s right and as a daughter I have the right to see the trial,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court’s Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb asked the attorney general of Pakistan to ensure that the cipher case trial was not conducted in an inappropriate manner, otherwise it might collapse like a house of cards.

An IHC bench, comprising Justice Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, heard the intra -court appeal filed by Imran Khan against his jail trial and the appointment of the special court’s judge in the cipher case.

The attorney general assured the bench that no rights of the accused in the cipher case would be violated. Meanwhile, the court turned down a request to stop the cipher case’s trial proceedings, without hearing him.

The appellant’s counsel, Salman Akram Raja, requested the IHC to order an open trial in the cipher case, maintaining that the PTI chief was accused of making public the content of the cipher, but the same classified document was not made part of the charge sheet in the case. The court adjourned the matter till November 14, after the attorney general sought time to submit his arguments.