Islamabad High Court has reserved its decision on FIA's request for conducting an in-camera hearing on the bail plea of former premier and PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the cipher case, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
At the outset of the court proceedings today, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq remarked that it had to be decided whether the hearing would be in-camera or in open court. He said that the court would fix a date for rehearing the case.
At this juncture, lawyer Salman Safdar requested the court to fix the next hearing in a couple of days, on which the Chief Justice said that the office would schedule the case for hearing.
FIA Prosecutor Shah Khawar Advocate appeared in the court and said that the trial could not be made public under the Official Secrets Act. He said today we were going to file an application in the trial court.
The Chief Justice raised the question that the matter of the trial was different, could the bail hearing be held in-camera?
Speaking to the lawyers, the CJ said that he did not know about this. He asked the lawyers to see to it. He said the statement was to be made in the trial court, it was the trial court’s jurisdiction whether it allowed an in-camera hearing or the open court.
Shah Khawar Advocate said that the cipher was a secret document and who would decode this document.
The court inquired whether there was any code of conduct or SOP related to the cipher.
The special prosecutor said that during the hearing of the bail application, some important documents and statements were to be kept before the court, the statements of some countries were also to be brought on record, if this process was public, relations with some countries might be affected.
The code of conduct relating to the cipher was read out in the court.
Manwar Dagal advocate said that the coded message is different for each country.
Shah Khawar Advocate said that the cipher is a secret document that is kept confidential in any case, the cipher comes from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The court remarked ‘The real house of the cipher is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but how are the ciphers coming?’
Yesterday, the FIA filed an application in the Islamabad High Court seeking in-camera proceedings on Imran Khan’s bail plea in the cipher case.
During the previous hearing, IHC Chief Justice Farooq passed an order declaring that the bail application would be heard in an open court.
Special court judge summons Imran, Qureshi on Oct 4
The special court judge has summoned ex-premier Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to appear before the court in the cipher case on October 4.
Special Court Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain issued a notice to the Adiala Jail superintendent after the submission of the challan by the FIA on Saturday.
In its challan, the FIA declared Imran and Qureshi prime accused, requesting the court to open trial against them.
The judge directed the jail superintendent to produce PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday.
Reporters Rozina Ali and Farzana Siddique