The Islamabad High Court has rejected the plea of the PTI chairman’s lawyer to stop the trial in the cipher case.
A division bench of the high court, comprising Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Riffat, was hearing an intra-court appeal against the jail trial of PTI Chairman Imran Khan.
After the objections are addressed, the file may go to the chief justice for marking and a new bench formed, Justice Aurangzeb remarked.
“Right now, we cannot grant you any interim relief,” Justice Aurangzeb added. “Whether this application is admissible or not will also be decided later.”
Rules cannot be violated for anyone, the judge remarked, adding that for now, the registrar office’s objections on the application were being removed.
“It was said that a jail trial is being conducted for the security of the suspect,” lawyer Salman Akram Raja said, adding that the suspect was never asked nor did he say a jail trial should be conducted on the basis of security concerns.
The petitioner had also requested for nullifying the order to give the charge of the Official Secrets Act court to the terrorism court judge. Salman Akram Raja said the petitioner had challenged the September 29 notification, as the relevant authority was the commissioner, not the Ministry of Law.
A single bench of the high court had upheld the jail trial and appointment of the Official Secrets Act court judge.
