ISLAMABAD: Following the conclusion of arguments from all parties, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday reserved its ruling on the petitions challenging Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in the infamous £190 million and Toshakhana cases.
The former PTI chairman had petitioned the high court, which had ordered his cipher trial in jail null and void last year, to also overturn the two corruption trials.
Imran and numerous others are charged with billions of rupees in corruption in the £190 million case, which also involves a property mogul, as well as corrupt acts involving the state gift repository in the Toshakhana case.
An accountability court on January 9 accused Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi in the Toshakhana reference filed against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), but their indictment in the £190 million case was deferred last week after the former premier changed his legal team.
Judge Bashir is currently holding the jail trial of the PTI founder in both instances with the agreement of the federal cabinet, but Khan has challenged the jail trial before an IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri.
He stated that the jail trial is held under extraordinary conditions, necessitating a judicial order in which the relevant judge specifies those extraordinary circumstances.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s attorney general maintained that the NAB cases are being tried in an open court in Adiala prison, where the deposed prime minister remains incarcerated.
Advocate Shaheen maintained that the NAB lacked authority to write to the federal government for a jail trial.
“If NAB had any reasons, it should have placed them before the relevant court and then the court would have decided after looking at these circumstances,” he added.
The lawyer further stated that a two-member bench of the IHC Court made a decision on the same legal basis in the cipher case, which has not been overruled by the Supreme Court and is binding on this court as well.
At this point, the IHC CJ said unequivocally that the jail trial is being conducted under extraordinary circumstances. Later, the court reserved its decision on Khan’s petitions to overturn his jail sentence in two corruption cases.
