Islamabad High Court issues stay on Imran Khan's jail trial in cipher case

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief's intra-court appeal against his trial in Adiala jail was heard by a two-member panel comprising Justices Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Saman Rafat Imtiaz.

This comes after Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the vice chairman of the PTI and former prime minister, had his prison trial cleared by the interim federal cabinet on Monday, according to Geo News.

A summary of the former prime minister and foreign minister's trial at the Adiala prison was approved by the government based on security concerns.

"The federal cabinet approved the jail trial of Imran Khan," said the attorney general. He added that the notification will also be presented before the court.

Justice Aurangzeb said that they would check the notification. “All trials will be held in open court, so this trial will be an extraordinary one," he remarked.

"If this will be a jail trial, then it would be an extraordinary one," said the judge.

The attorney general said that this was not an extraordinary trial but just a jail trial, adding that he would seek records from all relevant agencies and place them before the court.

In hindsight, all three notifications are not in accordance with the relevant rules of the high court, the judge said.

“When, under what circumstances, and on what basis was it decided that there would be a jail trial?” he asked Awan.

Khan’s counsel, Raja, told the court that five witnesses are still present in the jail to record their statements.

The judge remarked that many questions needed to be answered, adding that the federal cabinet approved the jail trial two days ago.

The IHC then adjourned the hearing on the intra-court appeal against jail trial until November 16, according to local media.

The deposed prime minister, who was ousted from office following a no-confidence motion in April last year, had moved the IHC against the jail trial, which was rejected by the court's single bench on October 16.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq's single-member bench announced no apparent malice behind conducting Khan's jail trial in the cypher case. The court also directed him to approach the trial court if reservations persist.

Later, Khan filed an intra-court appeal against the single bench's decision.