IHC to resume hearing of Bushra Bib’s appeal against conviction in gifts, cipher case

ISLAMABAD: The PTI founder, his wife Bushra Bibi, and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi have filed appeals against their convictions in the cipher and Toshakhana cases, which the Islamabad High Court (IHC) will continue to hear today. The hearing will be conducted by a special bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which consists of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Chief Justice Aamer Farooq.

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Prior to this, PTI founder’s attorney, Barrister Salman Safdar, presented arguments against the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor Hamid Ali Shah’s objections regarding the maintainability of the appeals, and the bench dismissed the prosecution’s objections regarding the petitions’ maintainability. Hamid Ali Shah, the special prosecutor, drew attention to the fact that the original 1923 law did not grant the right of appeal.

Shah noted that an appeal might be made up to the point of the trial process under Section 10 of the Secrets Act, but not against a conviction. The prosecutor stated that the law was silent on the subject in response to Justice Farooq’s question about whether or not the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) allowed for the filing of an appeal.

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Shah further argued that an appeal against a conviction under the Special Secrets Act could not be heard by the two-member split bench. Barrister Salman Safdar, however, contended that the CrPC applied in this particular situation. Furthermore, he asserted that the Official Secrets Act would be covered by the CrPC, opening the door for an appeal.