Pakistan: IHC rejects Imran Khan's bail plea in cypher case

Islamabad [Pakistan], October 27 : The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday rejected the bail plea of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan in the cypher case, ARY News reported.

ARY News is a Pakistani news channel.

After rejecting the plea to stop the trial of the cypher case, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq also rejected the PTI Chief's bail plea.

The PTI Chief is currently in prison on judicial remand in the cypher case.

The PTI chief was arrested in August after a case was filed against him for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act by disclosing a secret diplomatic cable (cypher) sent by the country's embassy in Washington in March last year.

Recently, the IHC rejected Khan's request to hold his trial in the cypher case outside the jail where is in custody currently, The Express Tribune reported.

A division bench of the IHC, consisting of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat, presided over the proceedings.

Imran Khan's lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, appeared before the bench to contest the federal government's notification dated September 29, which authorised his client's trial in prison. Raja argued that the federal government lacked the authority to issue such a notification.

He explained that the law ministry had issued the notification for Imran Khan's prison trial at the request of the interior ministry due to security concerns. However, he noted that there was no record of the interior ministry's written request, as reported by The Express Tribune.

Justice Aurangzeb indicated that the court could not grant interim relief to Imran Khan at this time, and the admissibility of the petition would be decided later.

The cypher controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Imran Khan, just days before his ouster in April 2022, brandished a letter, claiming that it was a cypher from a foreign nation, which mentioned that his government should be ousted from power, according to The News International report.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter and the name of the nation that had sent it. However, a few days later Imran Khan named the United States and said that US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.

The PTI chairman had claimed that he was reading contents from the cypher and said that "all will be forgiven for Pakistan Imran Khan is removed from power".

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