Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and his close aide Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been given a 10-year prison sentence in the cipher case, according to Pakistani media reports.
Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqernain of the Official Secrets Act special court presiding over the case delivered the verdict after conducting the proceedings at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief and his aide were indicted in the cipher case by the special court, established under the Official Secrets Act 2023 after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared their jail trial null and void.
The jail sentence against Imran and Qureshi comes a little over a month after the Supreme Court granted them bail in the case against surety bonds of Rs 1 million each. A few days later, Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb prevented the special court from further proceedings till January 11, noting there were “legal errors” in the case.
Despite the reiterated indictment and now the jail ruling, both have claimed innocence and alleged that “powerful people” behind the cipher case had made them the scapegoat.
Imran alleged that the trial was nothing less than a “joke” as both the prosecution and defense team belonged to the government.
Imran Khan faced allegations that he violated the Official Secrets Act when he disclosed a secret diplomatic cable, called the Cipher. This was sent by Pakistan’s embassy in Washington in March 2022. Khan reportedly lost possession of the diplomatic cable later.
Both Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi claimed that the cable had a threat from the US to topple the PTI government which was then in power in Pakistan.
Khan was dismissed from the prime ministerial office in April 2022 after a no-confidence vote. Since being relieved of the premier post, more than 150 cases have been hit against him.
