In a separate case involving surety bonds totaling Rs. 1 million each, the SC has granted Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s bail.<\/p>\n
RAWALPINDI: Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the vice-chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), is expected to be released today after the Supreme Court granted his bail in the cipher case last Friday.<\/p>\n
Barrister Taimur Malik, his attorney, has arrived at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi with his bail bonds in this regard.<\/p>\n
Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain has arrived at the jail to hear the case on behalf of the special court created by the Official Secrets Act of 2023.<\/p>\n
Also present at the jail premises is Bushra Bibi, the wife of PTI founder Imran Khan, lawyers Umair Niazi and\u00a0Rai Muhammad Ali.<\/p>\n
The apex court, on December 22, approved Khan and Qureshi’s post-arrest bail in the cipher case against surety bonds of Rs1 million each. The court\u00a0ruled that the discretion exercised by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in declining bail to the petitioners was exercised perversely.<\/p>\n
After examining the material available on record, the court found that there was no sufficient incriminating material available at this stage to show that Khan communicated the information contained in the cipher telegram received from PAREP (Ambassador), Washington, USA, to the public at large with the intention or calculation, directly or indirectly, in the interest or for the benefit of a foreign power, nor the disclosed information related to any of the defence installations or affairs, nor did he disclose any secret official code to the public at large.<\/p>\n
The court, after converting the petitions into an appeal, allowed it and set aside the impugned orders of the IHC.<\/p>\n