ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad excessive Court Docket suspended on Tuesday ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s three-year sentence within the Toshakhana (treasure home for state items) case however one other court docket established to listen to circumstances beneath the Official Secrets and techniques Act, 1923 has directed the jail authorities to maintain the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief behind bars within the lacking cipher case.
A particular court docket constituted to listen to the cipher case, through which Khan was named alongside together with his get together’s jailed vice-chief and former overseas minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, wrote a letter to jail authorities in Attock, in Pakistan’s Punjab province, directing them to maintain the previous PM within the lockup as he has been named within the case relating to a lacking US diplomatic cable.
“You are hereby directed to keep him in the judicial lockup and produce him on August 30 (Wednesday) before this court,” a particular court docket choose wrote in a letter to the jail superintendent.
The cipher case pertains to the alleged leaking of a diplomatic cable, which allegedly went lacking from Imran’s possession. The ex-PM has been questioned a number of instances by Federal Investigation Company (FIA) officers within the cipher case.
The much-awaited order within the Toshakhana case was introduced by a two-member bench of the Islamabad HC comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri on the previous PM’s attraction in opposition to his sentence. Imran’s sisters, Aleema Khan and Uzma Khan, have been current on the HC because it introduced its verdict.
“The copy of the judgment will be available shortly … all we are saying now is that Imran’s request has been approved,” Chief Justice Farooq stated.
Following the HC’s order, the PTI demanded that Imran be instantly launched from jail. A video posted by the get together on X confirmed pro-lawyers chanting “Khan ko riha karo (release Khan)” outdoors the HC.
PTI data secretary Raoof Hasan, posting on X, termed the suspension of Khan’s sentence as a “re-scripting of Pakistan’s political & legal history”.
“After suspension of @ImranKhanPTI sentence in the Toshakhana case, his arrest in any other fake & fraudulent case will be ill-intentioned & mala fide. Justice must prevail – and justice shall prevail,” Hasan posted on X (previously Twitter).
PTI lawyer Shoaib Shaheen stated Imran needs to be offered compensation for the variety of days spent in jail.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), nonetheless, expressed displeasure over the HC’s order, with get together president and former PM Shehbaz Sharif saying Imran’s sentence had been suspended,“not terminated”.
“The Chief Justice of Pakistan’s message of ‘Good to see you (Imran)’ and ‘Wish you (Imran) good luck’ has reached the Islamabad HC,” Sharif stated, claiming that “everyone knew about the verdict before it was even announced”.
“This moment is a matter of concern for our justice system,” Shehbaz, beneath whose transient time period as PM almost 200 circumstances have been filed in opposition to Imran, stated on X. “If a clear message is received from the higher judiciary, what else should the subordinate court do?”
Khan was sentenced to a few years in jail by a trial court docket within the Toshakhana case on August 5 for failing to reveal in his annual declaration of belongings the cash he earned from promoting items he had obtained throughout his time in workplace (2018-2022). The items, with an estimated value of $635,000, included Rolex wristwatches, a hoop and a pair of cufflinks. His conviction within the case had barred him from contesting an election for 5 years.
Imran had subsequently filed an attraction within the HC in opposition to his conviction. He had additionally approached the Supreme Court docket (SC) in opposition to the HC’s resolution to ship the case again to trial court docket choose Humayun Dilawar, who had convicted him.
Final week, the SC had accepted “procedural defects” in Imran’s conviction however had opted to attend for the HC resolution on his plea.