IHC reserves decision in Imran’s appeal against jail trial

A divisional bench of the Islamabad High Court reserved its decision in Imran Khan’s intracourt appeal against jail trial in the cipher case.

The bench, which includes Justice Saman Rafat and Justice Gul Hassan Aurangzeb, reserved the verdict and said it would be announced on the same day (Tuesday) around 5 pm.

Justice Aurangzeb said that a short order would be revealed on Tuesday and the detailed order would be announced later.

Khan’s lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, resumed his arguments on Tuesday and told the court that the part of the trial that had taken place before the cabinet had notified the jail trial were illegal.

Raja also argued that there was a proper way to announce a jail trial and the judge should have passed an order that elaborated on his reasons for taking the decision.

He also added that the government had issued a notification on November 10 but the judge had never asked for the notification to apply retrospectively.

In response, Attorney General Mansoor Awan told the court that the jail trial was in fact an open trial.

He admitted that Khan’s family had not abeen allowed into the courtroom in the initial hearings but he attirbuted it to the fact that the room where proceedings were held was not big enough to accomdate enough people.

The attorney general also added that a single bench of the IHC had already passed an order regarding the matter.