On Monday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) provided significant relief by acquitting PTI founder Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the brief verdict after accepting the appeals of the former premier and diplomat against their convictions in the case.
The court order stated that they “shall be released forthwith, if not incarcerated in any other case”.
However, the duo is not expected to be released from prison due to Imran Khan’s sentence in the Iddat case, while Qureshi was arrested in the recent May 9 cases. The Iddat case was transferred to another judge today, and Qureshi is on physical remand until June 5 (Wednesday).
In January, a special court set up under the Official Secrets Act sentenced both Imran and Qureshi to 10 years in jail in the case after Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain appointed the state prosecutor.
This was Imran’s second conviction as he was also convicted in the Tosha Khana case on August 5 and sentenced to three years in prison. His sentence was suspended by the IHC. However, a division bench later rejected Imran’s plea to suspend the sentence.
Imran was later convicted in a separate Toshakhana case in January, but the IHC suspended the 14-year sentence in April. He was convicted in the Iddat case and sentenced to seven years in prison in February.
The cipher case related to a diplomatic document containing allegations in a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) charge sheet was never retracted by then-Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had long maintained that the document contained a US threat of overthrowing his government.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Umar Ayub appreciated the decision and demanded his immediate release.
‘A big day for the leader and the party. A bogus, frivolous, and fraudulent case is sent packing by the IHC. Other matters will soon meet their Waterloo. Khan would emerge from Adiala as the undisputed leader of a resurgent nation. Congratulations to all,’ said PTI spokesperson Rauf Hasan.
Talking to the media, PTI leader Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that today the nation saw that the verdict of justice came and the flag of justice was raised and the baseless case in which Imran Khan was imprisoned for almost 10 months was ended. Today is a happy day, very soon the nation will see that Imran Khan will be out.