IHC declares all proceedings in cypher case after Dec 14 invalid

[Bewal Express]

The special court formed to hear cases under the Official Secrets Act appointed on Saturday state counsels for former premier Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The decision was announced by special court Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain after the counsels representing the accused were absent from court proceedings on Friday.

The hearing a day earlier was marred by the counsels' absence and they failed to show up despite a scheduled resumption at noon.

Deliberating on the facts and circumstances, the court emphasised that it provided ample opportunities for the accused's legal representation to be present in court. However, with no senior lawyer appearing on behalf of either Imran or Qureshi, the court had no recourse but to appoint state defence counsel.

An email request for the same was sent to the attorney general Islamabad's office, asking for a list of lawyers who could represent the accused as state counsel.

The court received a response from the AG's office via letter, naming the lawyers who will now represent Imran and Qureshi in the cypher case. Advocate Malik Abdul Rahman will now represent Imran, while Advocate Hazrat Younus will represent Qureshi.

Both advocates will present the case on behalf of the accused and cross-examine the witnesses. The appointed counsels are scheduled to present their arguments on January 27.

Source: Express Tribune

‘State counsel’ represents Imran in cipher case | The Express Tribune

Despite PTI leaders’ protest, public defenders cross-examine nine witnesses

tribune.com.pk

Abuse of power by the Establishment. But its not even shocking anymore. There is no case to answer as apparently it damaged our relations with other powers except all those powers got what they wanted, which was to have a PK govt singing tp their tune.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Imran dubs cipher trial a ‘joke’ over appointment of state defence team​

Deploring the appointment of state defence counsels in the cipher case, former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday said the trial was nothing less than a “joke” because the prosecution and defence team both belonged to the government.

“The prosecution team and defence counsels both belong to the government,” Imran said during the hearing today. “This is a joke.”

An order of Friday’s hearing issued today, available with Dawn.com, stated that Malik Abdur Rehman was appointed as Imran’s state defence counsel while Hazrat Younis would defend former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

Authored by Judge Abual Hasnaat Muhammad Zulqarnain, the order noted that the defence counsel on January 16 had agreed to conduct the cross-examinations but did not appear in the next two court hearings.

“Despite several opportunities given to the learned counsels for accused persons, this court is left with no choice but to appoint defense counsels for the accused persons to conduct cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses (PWs),” the order stated.

“They will represent the case and will conduct cross-examination on the PWs. All the remaining PWs be summoned and the PWs present in court today are bound [..] to come up on Jan 27, 2024,” it added.

The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document that the Federal Investigation Agency’s charge sheet alleges was never returned by Imran. The PTI has long held that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran as prime minister.

Last year in December, Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb had restrained the special court from proceeding against the suspects — including Qureshi — till Jan 11, noting that there were “legal errors” in the case.

The decision had come on Imran’s petition challenging the trial — being conducted at Adiala Jail — and subsequent developments, including the framing of charges and a gag order on the media.

The special court had begun the cipher trial afresh last month at the Adiala district jail after Imran and Qureshi were indicted for a second time in the case on December 13.

The former premier and Qureshi, who is also behind bars, were first indicted in the case in October. Both had pleaded not guilty. The IHC had termed the government’s notification for a jail trial “erroneous” and scrapped the entire proceedings.

In December, the Supreme Court had approved the post-arrest bails of Imran and Qureshi. While Imran remains incarcerated in other cases, Qureshi’s expected release was also stalled as he was manhandled and re-arrested in a fresh May 9 case.

Yesterday, the FIA prosecutor asked the special court to close the defence counsel’s right to cross-examination, alleging that the defence side was applying delaying tactics to prolong the trial.

Hearing
During the hearing of the case earlier today, senior PTI lawyers were not present so which cross-examination of witnesses couldn’t take place again.

However, assistant lawyers Usman Gill and Khalid Yousuf Chaudhry were in attendance. The state defence counsels appointed by the court for Imran and Qureshi, Advocates Rehman and Younis also turned up.

At the hearing’s outset, a heated argument occurred between Imran and the judge with the PTI founder and Qureshi expressing shock at the government lawyers representing them in court.

Imran and Qureshi expressed no-confidence in the ability of the lawyers to defend them with the latter throwing the case file at the government lawyers.

Source: Dawn News

 

[BouncerGuy]

Imran decries ‘unilateral’ proceedings in jail

As former prime minister Imran Khan decried what he called ‘unilateral’ proceedings at Adiala Jail, the state-appointed counsel on Monday concluded the cross-examination of all 25 prosecution witnesses in the cipher case while the judge closed the defence lawyers’ right to examine witnesses in the Toshakhana reference.

Special Court (Official Secrets Act) judge Abual Hasnat Mohammad Zulqarnain had on Saturday appointed the state counsel as the lawyers representing the PTI founding chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were not available for cross-examination of witnesses in the cipher case.

Earlier, the state counsel had cross-examined 10 witnesses, while defence lawyers four.

The proceedings in the cipher case started on Monday with heated arguments from the counsel for Mr Khan and Mr Qureshi as they expressed lack of confidence in judge Zulqarnain. They filed an application asking the judge to recuse himself over his decision to appoint the state counsel for the two PTI leaders to cross-examine the witnesses.

The judge heard the arguments of the defence counsel and dismissed the petition. While the judge was dictating the order, he asked Mr Khan’s counsel Barrister Salman Safdar and Sikandar Zulqarnain if they were ready to cross-examine the witnesses. The lawyers asked the judge to decide the application first.

Judge Zulqarnain dismissed the application and asked the state counsel to cross-examine the witnesses on behalf of Mr Khan and Mr Qureshi. He left the courtroom, where accountability judge Mohammad Bashir convened the proceedings in the Toshakhana reference.

Judge Zulqarnain continued the proceedings till 11pm in which the state counsel concluded the cross-examination of 11 witnesses, including ex-principal secretary to the prime minister Azam Khan, former foreign secretary Sohail Mehmood and ex-ambassador to the United States Asad Majeed.

Accountability judge Bashir, while hearing the Toshakhana reference, asked the defence counsel to cross-examine the witnesses. However, a lawyer, Zaheer Abbas Chaudhry, appeared before the court and submitted Wakalatnama from Imran Khan. He informed the judge that since he had been engaged recently, he needed some time to get himself prepared for in the case.

The prosecution, on the other hand, pointed out that Mr Chaudhry was the 9th lawyer to have filed the Wakalatnama from the defence side and termed this a part of delaying tactics.

Judge Bashir asked the defence counsel to cross-examine the witnesses, and after their reluctance, closed their right of examining the witnesses and asked Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to record their statements under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Under this section, the judge can put questions to an accused person “on the case after the witnesses for the prosecution have been examined and before he is called on for his defence”.

While the proceedings in the Toshakhana reference were in progress, a prison official came and informed Mr Khan and Mr Qureshi that they were required to appear before judge Zulqarnain who recommenced the proceedings in the cipher case at another location within the jail premises.

Mr Khan was reluctant to appear before the judge; however, Mr Qureshi appeared before him to attend the proceedings.

The prison authorities allowed only three court reporters to cover the proceedings of the cipher case that continued for over 13 hours.

‘Fixed match’

Talking to media persons, Imran Khan said the speed of the trial suggested that the “match is already fixed”. He said that every effort is being made to save US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu.

He expressed his willingness to hold dialogue with the establishment, saying the recent events had discredited the general elections. He alleged that the chief justice of Pakistan is responsible for the arrests of PTI workers. He said he would ask for conducting an inquiry against those who haven’t come out for electioneering.

The PTI founder claimed that PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif returned to Pakistan under a deal with the establishment and he is still relying upon ‘Vigo vehicle’ to reach the Prime Minister’s Office. He challenged to hold the biggest-ever rally if allowed for once.

Mr Khan claimed that former army chief retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was “seeking an a deal for the opposition leaders, adding that he would ask the court to summon Gen Bajwa, Donald Lu and the military attaché as witnesses.
​

Source: Dawn News

 

[hassan918]

Imran Khan demands fresh inquiry after Donald Lu rebuffs 'cipher conspiracy'​

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday demanded a fresh inquiry into United States Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu’s statement denying "cipher conspiracy" that US engineered his ouster from power by supporting the then opposition’s no-confidence motion in April 2022.

Testifying before a Congressional panel last week, the top US diplomat said: “I wanna be very clear on this point [that] this conspiracy theory is a lie [and] it is a complete falsehood.”

Speaking to journalists at Adiala jail, Khan denied the reports that the US envoy met him in the prison. He said that he would speak to the US envoy about Lu’s statement and the alleged role of the US embassy in the ciphergate if he met him.

“The original copy of cipher is with the Foreign Office, we were only given a paraphrased copy [of the document],” the former premier said while referring to the allegations that he misplaced the classified cipher document that he received as the prime minister.

The PTI founder said that a prime minister is “not the security guard” of his office; instead, there are some security protocols for the PM office.

Khan also called for a separate judicial commission to investigation into May 9 incidents and February 8 elections.

“A political party is being eliminated on the pretext of May 9 events,” he added.

The former prime minister said that the president and Senate elections have no value after a “rigged” election.

He then said that the authorities can keep him in prison but all his party leaders and workers should be released from jail.

During a hearing titled ‘Pakistan After the elections: Examining the future of Democracy in Pakistan and the US Pakistan relationship,’ last week, the US assistant secretary as the key witness said: "At no point does it [cipher] accuse the United States government or me personally of taking steps against Imran Khan.”

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has termed Donald Lu’s statement on ciphergate a “lie”, and demanded a reopening inquiry into the controversy.

Reacting to the US assistant secretary of state’s testimony before a Congressional panel, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan on March 21 termed Lu’s statement on ciphergate a “lie”, and demanded reopening inquiry into the controversy.

The cipher controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Khan — less than a month before his ouster in April 2022 — while addressing a public rally waved a letter before the crowd, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation that had conspired with his political rivals to have PTI government overthrown.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor did he mention the name of the nation it came from. But a few days later, he accused the United States of conspiring against him and alleged that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.

The cipher was sent by then Pakistan's ambassador to US Asad Majeed.

Source: GEO

 

[hassan918]

Sentences in cypher case will be ‘put off’, FIA warned​

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday told the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor to start presenting his arguments in the cypher case from Wednesday and if he required more time, the court would suspend the sentences of the convicts.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb were hearing PTI founding chairman Imran Khan and party vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s appeal against their conviction in the cypher case.

Barrister Salman Safdar representing Imran and FIA Special Prosecutor Hamid Ali Shah appeared before the court.

Safdar argued that the diplomatic cable was received by then principal secretary to PM Azam Khan and prosecution had been unable to establish that if he had handed it over to then-premier Imran or not.

He added that his stance was that the copy of the document was lost from the PM’s Office and that is what Azam had corroborated as well.

Safdar further told the court that according to the mechanism, if the cypher was lost, it was necessary to report it to the foreign affairs ministry.

This is followed by a departmental inquiry conducted by senior officers of the foreign affairs ministry but that did not happen.

Besides, he said the foreign affairs ministry should have sent a reminder but it never came.

The lawyer continued that the PM Office informed the foreign affairs ministry about the document being lost on March 28, 2022.

He added that the foreign affairs ministry should have informed the Intelligence Bureau immediately about the development but it did not.

Safdar said if the main allegation had not been proven, then the charge of negligence could not be sustained.

“The point I am making is that there is nothing on record that the copy of the cipher was handed over to us.”

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb inquired why this charge of negligence or “deliberately” losing the copy of the document was not brought against Azam.

Safdar replied that the charge was framed against the suspect. However, he added the case was spoiled when the suspect was turned into a witness.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb pointed out that the security of the cipher was so that nobody could see it, and asked had anyone seen document or not.

The lawyer replied in the negative, saying that even he had not seen it yet. He added even no witness had said anything related to its text.

Safdar argued that the procedure was not followed before Azam was turned into a witness. He noted that Azam was one of the people named in the FIR of the case and that was why his statement was not valid.

He continued that when Azam’s statement was recorded under Section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure, there was no right of cross-examination.

The lawyer contended that Azam was turned into a witness after being pardoned without following the proper procedure.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb remarked that court was taking Safdar’s argument very seriously.

Addressing Safdar, IHC CJ Farooq asked him to inform the court about something on the basis of which it should accept his arguments.

“Will there be any effect of Azam Khan returning after his disappearance and giving a statement?” he inquired.

Safdar concluded his arguments by saying that Azam’s statement was unreliable.

The FIA prosecutor requested the court to give him three to four days to prepare his arguments.

However, the court rejected the request and directed the prosecutor to present the arguments from Wednesday.

The bench told the prosecutor if you wanted more time, the court would suspend the sentences on Wednesday. It added that then the prosecutor could take as much time as he desired.

Later, the IHC adjourned the hearing of the pleas till Wednesday.

Source: The Express Tribune