The prosecution's key witnesses, including ex-premier Imran Khan's principal secretary Azam Khan and then ambassador to the US Asad Majeed Khan, recorded their statement on Saturday in the cipher case, reported 24NewsHD TV channel Saturday.
Besides the two, former executive magistrate Ubaid Arshad, assistant cipher operation Nauman and the secretary of Ministry of Interior Aftab Ahmed Khan recorded their statements before special court Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain, who presided over the open-trial hearing at Rawalpindi Central Jail.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief's wife, his sisters, along with former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s family were present in the courtroom.
Before the hearing, the prosecution brought forth 22 prosecution witnesses. These include Azam Khan, Sohail Mehmood, Asad Majeed, Hidayatullah, Muhammad Ashfaq, Hidayatullah Batini, Haseeb Gohar, Nadir Khan, Shamoon Abbas, Farrukh Abbas, Ayoub Chaudhry, Aftab Akbar Durrani, Adnan Arshad, Shujaat, Afzal, Jawaid, Abdul Jabbar, Ubaid Arshad Bhatti, Faisal Niaz, Nauman Ullah, Sajid Mehmood and Muhammad Nauman, arrived at Adiala jail today.
Earlier, in October this year, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had submitted a list of 28 witnesses in the cipher case against Imran and Qureshi, according to a copy of the indictment, however, the prosecution decided against producing three witnesses deeming them unnecessary.
So, far 25 witnesses have recorded their statements in the court.
A day earlier, the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) granted both PTI leaders bail in the cipher case as there was no sufficient incriminating material to show that Imran had revealed the informer in the diplomatic document to the general public.