The Official Secret Act Court gave 10-year prison sentence each to Imran Khan, the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Vice-chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case filed against them. The decision was pronounced by Special Court judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain.
Both Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi were present in the courtroom during the announcement of the verdict. The judge noted the absence of their lawyers and informed them that the State Defense Council had been provided. In response, the defense lawyers stated that they would proceed with cross-examination.
The judge expressed clear dissatisfaction with the lawyers, stating that they had mistrusted him. During the hearing, Questionnaire 342 was presented to Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Imran Khan. Both accused raised concerns about their lawyers’ absence, questioning how they could record their statements.
Subsequently, the court recorded the 342 statement of PTI founder Imran Khan. In his statement, Imran Khan mentioned that the cipher had come to his office, but the responsibility for its security rested with the military secretary. When the military secretary was asked to inquire, he claimed to have no information about the Cipher.
Following a brief hearing, the court announced a 10-year hard labor sentence for both Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case. The judge delivered a concise verbal judgment on the matter. It is worth noting that Imran Khan had previously challenged the appointment of government defense lawyers in the Islamabad High Court regarding the cipher case.
Cipher case
In the Cipher Case, a case has been registered against the former Prime Minister and former Foreign Minister under sections 5 and 9 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, along with section 34 of the PPC. They are accused of wrongfully communicating and using official secret information and illegally retaining a cipher telegram (an official secret document) with malicious intent.
The former PM’s aide Muhammad Azam Khan, former federal minister Asad Umar, and other associates’ roles will be determined during the investigations. The allegations state that Imran, Qureshi, and their associates communicated information from a secret classified document (cipher telegram received from Parep Washington dated March 7, 2022, to the Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to unauthorized persons, twisting facts to achieve personal gains in a manner prejudicial to state security.
A clandestine meeting allegedly took place at Banigala on March 28, 2022, where they conspired to misuse the cipher contents for nefarious designs. Imran, allegedly with malicious intent, directed the former principal secretary Azam Khan to prepare the minutes of the meeting by manipulating the cipher message’s contents for his vested interest at the expense of national safety.
The numbered and accountable copy of the cipher telegram sent to the PM Office was deliberately kept in the former PM’s custody and was never returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The accused Imran still illegally possesses and retains the cipher telegram, compromising the entire cipher security system and the secret communication method of Pakistani missions abroad.
