ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday quashed the conviction of PTI founder Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case.
A two-member bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb gave its verdict on the appeals filed by Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi against the conviction in the cipher case.
The division bench had reserved its verdict earlier in the day after the arguments of both the parties were completed.
The bench accepted their pleas and acquitted them in the case.
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan and others in his line were sentenced to 10 years in prison in the cipher case, after a special court found them guilty of divulging state secrets in January this year.
Special Court Judge Abu Alhasnaat Zulqurnain pronounced the verdict in Adiala Jail. PTI founder and Qureshi faced a high-profile case for allegedly maintaining and communicating a secret diplomatic cable sent by Pakistan’s ambassador to the US.
Cipher case
In August 2023, an FIR was registered against the PTI founder by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), invoking Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, on a complaint by the Home Secretary. was done.
The case against PTI was registered by the anti-terrorism wing of the apex investigative agency.
Imran Khan unfurled a letter at a public gathering in Islamabad on 27 March 2022, claiming it was evidence of a US-backed “international conspiracy” to topple his government.
Following his claims, the FIA launched an investigation against Khan, who is named in more than 150 civil and criminal cases, for allegedly disclosing and possessing a secret diplomatic cable.
It later emerged that the PTI chief had lost a copy of the cipher, which was written by the then Pakistani ambassador to the US.
Read More: Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi acquitted in cipher case
Azam Khan, who is known to be a close aide of the PTI chairman, recorded his statement against the PTI chairman, accusing him of spreading a false narrative about the US government’s cipher controversy. are
Investigators claimed that Khan allegedly used the cipher to draw public attention to foreign involvement in the opposition’s no-confidence motion.