The federal government on Thursday challenged in the Supreme Court (SC) the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision to acquit former prime minister and ex-PTI chairman Imran Khan and PTI stalwart and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the US cipher case, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
In its appeals against the IHC’s decision dated June 3, 2024, filed through the Ministry of Interior, the government prayed to the apex court to fix them for the hearing.
The government argued that the high court was not authorized to hear appeals in the case.
Furthermore, it said that the conduct of Imran and Qureshi during the trial was not cooperative at all.
“The record shows that both filed 65 miscellaneous applications during the trial,” the government said, and added that on several occasions, hearing of the case was adjourned at the request of the defendants.
And although witnesses were produced in the court, there was no cross-examination by the lawyers of the suspects.
The government opined that it was a settled fact that if legal requirements were not met, the case was resent for the trial.
“Not only that, the prosecution presented solid proofs (both documentary and forensic) which could not be proven wrong during the trial,” said the government, adding the IHC did not take into account these proofs while giving a verdict in the case.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had acquitted Imran and Qureshi in the cipher case.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the short verdict after accepting the appeals of the former premier and diplomat against their convictions in the case.
The court order said that they “shall be released forthwith, if not incarcerated in any other case”.
Reporter: Amanat Gishkori