The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday nullified the Law Ministry’s Aug. 29 notification allowing the conduct of a jail trial against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in the cipher case, while declaring as “valid” the appointment of a judge to the special court formed under the Official Secrets Act.
Following the ruling, per legal experts, court proceedings in the cipher case from Aug. 29-till date stand nullified and the hearings would need to start from scratch.
Issued by an IHC division bench comprising Justices Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Saman Rafat Imtiaz, the ruling pertained to Khan’s intra-court appeal against a single-member bench’s decision to approve his jail trial in the cipher case, and the appointment of a judge to the special court.
Accepting the maintainability of the plea, the court declared that the Law Ministry notification of Aug. 29—which stated “no objection” to the trial being conducted at Attock Jail—was without lawful authority and no legal effect because it lacked an appropriate government order. Additionally, it said the notification did not fulfill the requirements provided in Section 352 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as Rule 3 in Part-A of Chapter-1 in Volume-III of the Rules and Orders of the Lahore High Court.
The short order, comprising three pages, also declared the law ministry’s notifications pertaining to Khan’s jail trial from Sept. 12, Sept. 25, Oct. 3, and Oct. 13 as having no “lawful authority and no legal effect.” Similarly, it said, notifications issued on Nov. 13 and Nov. 15 in light of the cabinet’s decisions were “of no legal consequence” and could not be given “retrospective effect.”
As such, read the ruling, “proceedings with effect from Aug. 29 and the trial conducted … in jail premises in a manner that cannot be termed as an open trial stand vitiated.” However, the order dismissed Khan’s objections to the appointment of Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain to the Special Court to try cases under the Official Secrets Act, declaring the relevant law ministry notification as valid and lawful.
It similarly observed that the Code of Criminal Procedure did not compel any magistrate to hold proceedings in a usual courtroom, adding a trial could be conducted in jail in “exceptional” circumstances.
It remains unclear how the proceedings would continue following the ruling, as the special court has not held any hearings since Nov. 14, when the IHC issued a stay order pending a ruling on the jail trial appeal. Khan had filed the intra-court appeal after a single member bench had ruled there was no apparent malice behind conducting Khan’s jail trial in the cipher case. It had directed the former prime minister to approach the trial court if reservations persist.
In August, Khan and PTI Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi were booked under Official Secrets Act in the cipher case after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) invoked Section 5 of the law, accusing them of misusing the classified document for political gains and misplacing a copy of it, potentially endangering Pakistan’s interests.