The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday nullified the notification for conducting former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s jail trial on charges of leaking state secrets — issued on August 29.
A special court has been conducting the trial in jail citing security concerns since Khan was indicted on the charges last month. The PTI chairman is currently in Adiala jail after he was indicted by the special court on October 23.
“Islamabad High Court has declared illegal the notification for jail trial,” said Naeem Panjutha, the lawyer, in a post on social media platform X.
The ruling came as a division bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Riffat Imtiaz announced the verdict it reserved earlier in the day on the intra-court appeal filed by the PTI chief against his jail trial.
It seems like, after the order, the court proceedings that have taken place in jail have been nullified as a whole.
Allowing Khan’s intra-court appeal, the division bench declared the law ministry’s notification “to be without lawful authority and no legal effect”.
The IHC stated in the three-page short order that the jail trial can be conducted in “exceptional circumstances”.
“In exceptional circumstances and where it is conducive to justice, a trial can be conducted in jail in a manner that fulfills the requirements of an open trial or a trial in camera provided it is in accordance with the procedure provided by law.”
The court also declared that the November 15 notification issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice after the caretaker cabinet’s approval of the jail trial “cannot be given retrospective effect”.
Moreover, the IHC also ruled on the designation of the special court judge and declared the appointment legal.
