Pak Court Acquits Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Cipher Case

Islamabad: In a major relief for Imran Khan, a top Pakistani court on Monday acquitted the beleaguered former prime minister as well as his foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case.Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment along with Qureshi in the cipher case in January by Islamabad's special court set up under the Official Secrets Act.

The cipher case pertains to the incident in which the former premier showed a piece of paper -- allegedly a copy of a diplomatic communication -- at a public rally in Islamabad, claiming it as proof of a conspiracy against his government by a foreign power, referring to US diplomat Donald Lu, who has been at the centre of the cipher controversy.

Khan had brandished the cipher paper just two weeks before the ouster of the PTI government in April 2022 through a vote of no-confidence in Parliament.

Both Khan and Qureshi had challenged the verdict in the Islamabad High Court.

Following the hearing of their pleas on Monday, Islamabad High Court suspended their sentence and ordered that they be released if not wanted in any other case.

Chief Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the verdict.

The Cipher case was filed on August 15 last year by the Federal Investigation Agency which accused Khan and Qureshi of violating the secret laws while handling a cable sent by the Pakistan embassy in Washington in March 2022.

The two were first indicted in October last year but the process was reversed by the Islamabad High Court while ruling against in-camera proceedings. They were indicted again in December.

A total of 25 witnesses appeared before the court, including former principal secretary to PM Azam Khan, former foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood and ex-ambassador Asad Majeed Khan.