Pakistan: Ex-PM Imran Khan, ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Quresh sentenced to 10 years in prison in cipher case

Imran Khan. File pic

Former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were on Tuesday sentenced to 10 years each in prison in the cipher case.

The decision was announced by special court Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain during the hearing of the case held at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) confirmed the development by saying that it was a sham case with no access to media or public.

Also Read : Imran Khan warns of further instability in Pakistan

Also Read: Pakistan court withdraws stay order on Imran Khan in Cipher case

Legal team will challenge the decision in a higher court and hopefully will get this sentence suspended, given the poor proceedings of a case when Islamabad High Court had clearly annuled proceedings twice, ordered access to media and public but on the contrary, access of legal team was denied, and decision reached in a haste, the party said in WhatsApp message.

The cipher case pertains to a piece of paper, purported to be a diplomatic cable -- the cipher -- that Khan had waved at a public rally on March 27, 2022, and naming the US, had claimed that it was evidence of an international conspiracy to topple his government.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.