PTI Founder's Appeal Against Cipher Case Conviction Adjourned

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Apr, 2024) A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday adjourned hearing of appeals against the conviction of PTI founder and former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the cipher case till May 2.

A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the appeals. FIA’s prosecutors Hamid Ali Shah and Zulifqar Abbas Naqvi, and defence lawyers Barrister Salman Safdar and others appeared before the court.

Prosecutor Hamid Ali Shah argued that the court had framed charges against the accused in their presence.

He said that the PTI founder never returned the copy of cipher to the Foreign Office.

He said the witness FO's Deputy Director Cipher Security Imran Sajid had told the court that it was a classified document and he presented proof regarding recording the cipher's details in a register.

He got approval to distribute the copies of cipher and sent a copy of it to the PM House through the SSP office.

He said that as per the former principal secretary to the prime minister Azam Khan, the then PM (PTI founder) did not return the cipher's copy, which, he claimed, went missing.

The chief justice inquired whether there was any evidence about handing over the copy to the then prime minister. The prosecutor answered in negative, however, he said that there were signatures regarding the receipt of the document at the PM Office.

The court later adjourned further hearing of the case till next date.