Imran Khan challenges his convictions in cipher and Toshakhana cases

PTI founder chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan has challenged his convictions in cipher and Toshakhana cases in Islamabad High Court (IHC), reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Appeals against conviction in cipher and Toshakhana cases were filed in the IHC by Barrister Salman Safdar and Barrister Ali Zafar.

Through the appeals, the PTI founder prayed the court to annul the convictions in both cases and until the final decision the sentences be suspended and he be released on bail.

The appeals stated that the cipher case trial which began on August 15, there was violation of the due process as it was not conducted in accordance with legal procedure.

Imran Khan pleaded the statements of 10 prosecution witnesses recorded in the absence of his lawyers. Then state counsels were appointed without issuing him a notice, he added.

He further said he tried to bring to the notice of the trial court his fundamental rights under Article 10A.

Imran Khan said the trial court's decision dated January 30 is against the fundamental principles of fair trial.

Earlier, there were reports that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s conviction in Iddat case has also been filed in the sessions court.

PTI senior counsel Sardar Latif Khosa confirmed to journalists outside the IHC that the appeals against the three convictions have been filed.

Three convictions

On January 30, Imran Khan and his close aide, former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, had been sentenced to 10 years in jail in cipher case related to the leaking of state secrets.

The special court set up at a prison in Rawalpindi had announced the sentence in the cipher case, which pertained to a diplomatic cable that Imran Khan claimed proved his allegation that his removal from power in 2022 was a US conspiracy.

On January 31, an anti-graft court had jailed Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Khan for 14 years each on charges of illegally selling state gifts. The sentence in the Toshakhana case also included a 10-year disqualification from holding public office.

Bushra Khan, commonly known as Bushra Bibi, had, however, been allowed by authorities to serve her sentence at Imran Khan's Islamabad hilltop mansion at Banigala. Later, Bushra Bibi had moved the court to allow her to undergo her sentence in prison and not at Banigala residence, which the authorities turned into a sub-jail.

The third conviction in merely one week came in Iddat case. On February 3, a court in Islamabad had sentenced the PTI leader and his spouse Bushra Bibi to seven years in jail, along with a Rs0.5 million fine each, for “contracting marriage during the ‘Iddat’ (period of waiting)” of the former first lady.

The judge set aside the ‘nikah’ of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi solemnised on January 1, 2018, as he announced the sentence under Section 496 of the Pakistan Penal Code. According to the court, the ‘nikah’ was solemnised during the “mandatory Iddat period” of Bushra Bibi.

Reporter Ehtedham Kayani