Ex-Pak PM Imran Khan challenges cipher, Toshakhana sentences

Islamabad: Jailed former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has challenged in the Islamabad High Court his sentences in the cipher and Toshakhana corruption cases.

Separate petitions have been filed before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) through Barrister Ali Zafar against Khan's sentences in the Toshakhana and cipher cases.

The petition on the cipher (secret diplomatic cable) case made the state and Interior Ministry Secretary Yousaf Naseem Khokhar respondents in the case. It urged the high court to set aside the conviction and sentence and acquit him of the charges. On January 30, Khan, 71, was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a special court for leaking sensitive state secrets.

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 his government overthrown.

Khan 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 US 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 Asad Majeed's meeting with Lu.

The Toshakhana plea made the state and the accountability bureau respondents and urged the IHC to “suspend the execution of the conviction and sentence” imposed on the cricketer-turned-politician.

On January 31, Khan and his wife were sentenced to 14 years in prison each for corruption on charges of illegally selling state gifts.

The petition contended that the trial court hastily passed the judgment without providing the suspect an opportunity for a fair trial.

Khan, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was also disqualified from holding any public office for 10 years.