ISLAMABAD: In a big relief to the PTI, the Supreme Court Friday approved bails of former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case.
The apex court directed the PTI leaders to submit surety bonds worth Rs1 million each. The order was issued by a three-member bench headed by acting Chief Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and comprising Justices Athar Minallah and Syed Mansoor Ali Shah.
The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document that the FIA charge sheet alleges was never returned by Imran as prime minister. The PTI has long held that the document contained a threat from the US to oust Imran Khan as prime minister.
The Special Court constituted under the Official Secrets Act, had begun the cipher trial afresh last week at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi after Imran and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi were indicted for a second time in the case on December 13.
Khan and his aide Qureshi, who is also behind bars, were first indicted in the case on October 23 and both had pleaded not guilty. The trial was being held at Adiala Jail and a number of witnesses had already recorded their statements when the IHC termed the government’s notification for a jail trial “erroneous” and scrapped the entire proceedings.
