The lawyer representing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief requested an adjournment from the Supreme Court in a plea against the former prime minister’s indictment in the Cipher case.
The request was made during the case’s first hearing, following the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision on the intra-court appeal regarding the PTI chairman’s jail trial in the Cipher case.
In front of Supreme Court Judge, Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, the PTI chief’s lawyer, expressed the need to review the plea in light of the recent IHC decision on the intra-court appeal. Justice Tariq acknowledged the newness of the IHC order and stated that the plea against it could still be heard. The PTI lawyer hinted at the possibility of amending their plea following the IHC verdict and reiterated the request for an adjournment.
Read: Islamabad High Court Rules Imran Khan’s Jail Trial in Cipher Case Invalid
Supreme Court’s Response and IHC Verdict
Subsequently, the Supreme Court adjourned the case for an indefinite period. In a related development, the IHC had declared the jail trial of PTI chief Imran Khan in the Cipher case ‘null and void’.
The decision came from a division bench of the IHC, including Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, on an intra-court appeal filed by Imran Khan.
The IHC’s three-page short order clarified that a jail trial is permissible only in “exceptional circumstances” and must fulfil the requirements of an open trial or a trial in camera as provided by law.
