Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan, top aide sentenced to 10 years prison in cipher case
Days ahead of general elections in Pakistan, former Prime Minister Imran Khan and ex-Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were on Tuesday sentenced to 10 years in jail in the cipher case.
FollowA Pakistan court has sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to 10 years jail in a case related to the leaking of state secrets.
The case was heard at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, and Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqernain of the Official Secrets Act special court presided over the proceedings. He then announced the verdict.Â
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) pronounced the prison trial of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) president and his aide null and void. This led to the special court constituted under the Official Secrets Act 2023 to indict them in the cypher case.
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.
The cipher case concerns a diplomatic cable, which reportedly went missing from Khan's possession. Khan had repeatedly said before and after the no-confidence motion against him last year that the cipher pointed to a conspiracy to remove him from the prime minister’s office.
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. According to Khan and Qureshi, the PTI government that ruled Pakistan at the time was under danger from the US in the cable.
Khan was ousted from the Prime Minister’s post in April 2022 through a vote of no-confidence. More than 150 cases have been registered against him since his ouster from power.
