Big relief for PTI as IHC acquits Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi in cipher case

In a major relief to the embattled Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday annulled jailed founder Imran Khan and party’s Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s conviction in the infamous cipher case containing charges of misusing and misplacing the classified diplomatic document.

IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the short verdict on pleas challenging the conviction in the cipher case after reserving it earlier today. 

The PTI founder and party's vice-chairman were sentenced to 10 years each in prison in the cipher case in January this year.

The case pertains to allegations that the former prime minister had made public contents of a secret cable sent by the country's ambassador in Washington to the government in Islamabad.

The latest relief for the PTI founder came days after IHC approved his bail petition in the £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) settlement reference on May 15.

A two-member bench, comprising the IHC chief justice, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, had approved the PTI's founder bail plea in the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). 

Khan, the deposed premier who was ousted from power via the opposition's no-confidence motion in April 2022, has been facing a slew of charges ranging from corruption to terrorism since his removal as the premier.

He has been behind bars since August last year after he was sentenced in the Toshakhana case and subsequently convicted in other cases as well including cipher and illegal marriage cases.

Due to his conviction in other cases, the ousted premier remains behind bars despite securing relief in several cases.

'PTI founder to walk free very soon'

Commenting on the IHC’s verdict, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that a “baseless and unfounded” case came to its conclusion today. He added that the PTI founder spent 10 months in jail due to the cipher case.

He claimed that the former prime minister would come out of jail very soon and pinned hopes on the judiciary to provide justice to the embattled party.

The politico added that all “politically-motivated cases based on vengeance” against the PTI leadership would also be nullified.

Similarly, the PTI-backed lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly also chanted slogans after the IHC acquitted the PTI founder and party's vice chairman Qureshi in the cipher case.

The PTI lawmakers thumped their desks in the House in support of the party’s founder.

What is ciphergate?

The controversy first emerged on March 27, 2022, when Khan — less than a month before his ouster in April 2022 — while addressing a public rally waved a letter before the crowd, claiming that it was a cipher from a foreign nation that had conspired with his political rivals to have PTI government overthrown.

He did not reveal the contents of the letter nor did he mention the name of the nation it came from. But a few days later, he accused the United States of conspiring against him and alleged that Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had sought his removal.

The cipher was about former Pakistan ambassador to the US Majeed's meeting with Lu.

The former prime minister, claiming that he was reading contents from the cipher, said that "all will be forgiven for Pakistan if Imran Khan is removed from power".

Then on March 31, the National Security Committee (NSC) took up the matter and decided to issue a "strong demarche" to the US for its "blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan".

Later, after his removal, then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif convened a meeting of the NSC, which came to the conclusion that it had found no evidence of a foreign conspiracy in the cable.

In the two audio leaks that took the internet by storm and shocked the public after these events, the former prime minister, then-federal minister Asad Umar, and then-principle secretary Azam could allegedly be heard discussing the US cipher and how to use it to their advantage.