ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday approved the post-arrest bail of former prime minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, both of whom are incarcerated at Adiala Jail, in the cipher case.
The top court also directed the PTI leaders to submit surety bonds worth Rs1 million each.
Despite being granted bail, Imran is not expected to be released as he has also been arrested in the Toshakhana and Al-Qadir Trust cases. However, Qureshi’s daughter said she expected her father would be released as his arrest was not required in any other case. The order was issued by a three-member bench headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and comprising Justices Athar Minallah and Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on a set of PTI petitions. The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document that the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) 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.
The Special Court (Official Secrets Act) had begun the cipher trial afresh last week at the Adiala district jail after Imran and Qureshi were indicted for a second time in the case on Dec 13.
The two were first indicted in the case on Oct 23 when both had pleaded not guilty. The trial was being held at Adiala Jail and four witnesses had already recorded their statements when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had termed the government’s notification for a jail trial “erroneous” and scrapped the entire proceedings.
The IHC had endorsed Imran’s indictment, disposing of his plea against the same, but had also instructed the special court judge to ensure a “fair trial”.
Last month, the PTI had moved the apex court seeking Imran’s post-arrest bail in the case. The petition pleaded that it was an unequivocal and well-established principle of the apex court that bail should never be wielded as a form of punishment.
Previously, the SC had issued notices to the FIA and federation on the plea and directed them to submit their responses to it.
The written order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, said that there was “no sufficient incriminating material available at this stage” which showed that Imran communicated the information in the cipher to the public at large or for the benefit of a foreign power. It said the disclosed information did not relate to any defence installations or affairs and Imran did not disclose “any secret official code” to the public.
“We, therefore, are of the tentative opinion that there are no reasonable grounds for believing, at this stage, that the petitioners have committed the offence” punishable under Section 5(3) of the Official Secrets Act.
At the same time, the court said that there were “sufficient grounds for further inquiry into their guilt of the said offence, which is to be finally decided by the learned trial court after recording of the evidence of the parties”. In the judgement, Justice Minallah penned an additional note in which he said that Imran and Qureshi were alleged to be involved in an offence which did not fall within the category of crimes threatening society. –Agencies
