Screengrab of PTI chief Imran Khan
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s legal team on Monday filed a contempt petition against the former prime minister being denied a phone call with his sons by officials of the Attock Jail.
A special court in Islamabad last month ordered Attock jail authorities to keep Khan in judicial remand in the cipher case after the Islamabad High Court suspended his sentence in the Toshakhana case, pending appeals against his conviction.
Speaking with media after a hearing of the special court on Monday, Khan’s lawyer Naeem Haider Panjotha said they had filed a contempt of court petition against the Attock jail superintendent for not allowing the former prime minister to talk to his sons despite court orders to this effect. Noting that the special court hearing the cipher case had issued an order on Aug. 30 allowing Khan to speak to his sons via phone or WhatsApp, he said this was not followed.
“We urged [in court] that the Attock jail superintendent must be summoned in personal capacity and requested [the court] initiate contempt of court proceedings against him,” he said. According to the petition, jail officials denied Khan’s request to speak to his sons after stating that his detention under the Official Secrets Act did not permit this.
Panjotha said Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain had issued a notice to Attock Jail Superintendent Arif Shehzad for Sept. 15 and sought a report on the implementation of the court’s order.
Meanwhile, proceedings in the cipher case were adjourned until Sept. 14 after three special prosecutors representing the state failed to appear in court due to their engagements in the Supreme Court. Panjotha said the hearing date had originally been set for Sept. 13, but had been rescheduled by the judge on technical grounds. He claimed this adjournment as a delaying tactic to exert pressure on Khan.