File photo of PTI chief Imran Khan
Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain announced the decision after copies of the challan, submitted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), were provided to the counsels of the accused. The court also issued notices to government witnesses and adjourned the hearing until next week.
Addressing media after the in-camera hearing, which took place at Adiala as that is where both accused are currently incarcerated, Khan’s lawyer Salman Safdar claimed his client had protested against his “mistreatment” at the prison and demanded he be treated like other prisoners. “The chairman protested that he was provided with a room where it was difficult to live, it is also difficult to move or walk in the cell,” he said, adding he thought Khan’s blood pressure was “higher” during today’s hearing.
“The PTI chief strongly protested during the hearing in the court,” he stressed. The lawyer also reiterated his demand for the trial in the case to be held in an open court, as the public had a right to be aware of it.
Another of the PTI chief’s lawyers, Sher Afzal Marwat, meanwhile alleged that Khan and Qureshi were produced in court in a “cage-type” place, adding not even terrorists were presented in such a manner. He further claimed that the judge had acted “confrontationally” with Khan during the hearing and maintained the PTI chief did not want to accept a copy of the FIA challan.
According to the challan, the FIA has found both Khan and Qureshi guilty in the cipher case and requested the court to conduct their trial and proceed to sentencing them. It also cites Azam Khan, the PTI chief’s personal secretary during his time as prime minister, as a “strong witness” in the case. It has attached transcripts of Khan and Qureshi’s speech on March 27—when then-prime minister Khan brandished a piece of paper claiming it was a cipher from a foreign nation that was seeking the ouster of his