IHC declares PTI chief’s jail trial in cipher case null and void

DINYA NEWS: ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) threw out on Tuesday the notice that the former prime minister and head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) would be put on trial in jail for the cypher case.

The notice was sent out by the government on August 29th.

The decision on the PTI leader’s appeal against his jail sentence was announced by a division bench of the IHC made up of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Riffat Imtiaz. The verdict had been kept secret earlier in the day.

There was a special court set up under the Official Secrets Act that told the jail staff to keep the PTI chairman in “judicial lockup” in the cypher case. On August 29, the IHC halted the PTI chief’s sentence in the Toshakhana case.

The court said that the law ministry’s notice from November 13 about the PTI leader’s jail hearing was no longer valid.

On Monday, the IHC added one more day to the stay that had been put in place by the trial court. The court heard opinions about how to choose a judge and how the trial should go while the person was in jail.