https://arab.news/r5th2
- Prosecution says process to record witnesses’ statements would begin from tomorrow, Thursday
- Khan is accused of leaking official secrets by publicly divulging contents of confidential diplomatic cable
RAWALPINDI: Confusion persisted after prosecution said former prime minister Imran Khan had been indicted in the official secrets case on Wednesday, despite the ex-cricket star’s lawyer saying that charges against Khan were not framed during a hearing of the case.
Since his ouster from the PM’s office in April 2022, Khan has been embroiled in dozens of legal cases, including what has come to be popularly called the “cipher case,” which relates to an alleged diplomatic correspondence between Washington and Islamabad that Khan says was proof that his ouster as PM was part of a US conspiracy to remove him. Washington has repeatedly denied Khan’s accusations.
According to the police complaint against Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was Khan’s foreign minister during his tenure, both are accused of leaking state secrets to unauthorized individuals by publicly disclosing the contents of the confidential diplomatic cable and distorting facts “with ulterior motives and for personal gains.” These actions, authorities say, had jeopardized the Pakistani state’s security interests.
A guilty verdict under the Official Secrets Act could bring up to 14 years in prison or even a death sentence, lawyers say. Khan had already been indicted in the case in October during the now annulled trial but the special court judge announced last week he would be indicted again as hearings started afresh.
“Neither a charge was framed nor was Imran Khan’s signature obtained [on the charge sheet] for the indictment,” Khan’s lawyer Barrister Salman Safdar told Arab News after the hearing concluded.
“This is not an open trial as directed by Islamabad High Court as journalists were not allowed inside the prison to cover the proceedings.”
Another member of Khan’s legal team, Taimur Malik, wrote on social media platform X he was “surprised” to read news reports stating Khan and Qureshi had been indicted.
“Neither of them were asked to sign the charge sheet before the court was adjourned for tomorrow and we were present in the court till the end.”
A special court established to hear the cipher case had been conducting the trial inside the Adiala prison in Rawalpindi for weeks without media or members of the public allowed, before the Islamabad High Court ruled the hearings illegal last month and ordered them restarted in an open court.
Despite the high court’s orders that media and members of the public be allowed to attend hearings, only about five journalists were allowed inside the jail building on both Tuesday and Wednesday while a dozen others waited outside the jail premises. No followers of Khan, arguably the most popular politician in Pakistan and the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, had arrived at the scene, and there was scant police and security presence.
Safdar said Khan’s legal team would object to the prosecution’s statement that he was indicted in the case today, Wednesday. “We have been demanding the open trial in the case to avoid controversies and ensure transparency in the legal process.”
Speaking to reporters outside the jail premises, a member of the prosecution team said Khan had been indicted in the cipher case. He said tomorrow, Thursday, the process of witnesses recording their statements in the case would begin.
“The indictment was done today, and around four witnesses will record their statements tomorrow,” the prosecutor said in a brief interaction with reporters after the hearing.
Khan is serving a three-year sentence at Adiala jail in a separate case in which he was convicted in August for failing to disclose assets earned from the sale of state gifts while he was PM from 2018-2022. The ex-PM is disqualified from the upcoming general election because of the graft conviction but his legal team is pushing for him to be released on bail before the vote.
Khan’s old rival, three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has meanwhile launched his party’s election campaign after arriving home from four years of self-imposed exile in October. He has recently been acquitted in two major corruption cases against him, bringing him one step closer to being able to contest in upcoming polls.