ISLAMABAD (Daily Point) — The special court of the Official Secrets Act has granted permission for the trial of former prime minister Imran Khan to be open to the public and media. The court ruled that the trial will take place on jail premises, as confirmed by Khan’s lawyer on Tuesday.
This decision follows the government’s claim on Monday that there were threats to Imran Khan’s life, leading to his absence from an initially scheduled open court trial. The trial is now scheduled to commence on Friday, December 1.
The Islamabad High Court had declared Khan’s previous trial, conducted while he was in jail, as illegal. In response to a petition filed by Khan, the high court ordered a restart of the trial in an open court setting. The charges against Khan relate to the alleged leaking of state secrets, and legal experts indicate that a conviction could potentially result in a death sentence.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a close aide to Khan and former deputy in his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, is a co-defendant in the case. Both individuals have consistently denied the charges during the trial.
The case revolves around Khan’s actions, including comments and waving of a confidential diplomatic letter, at a rally following his ouster in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in 2022. Khan and Qureshi are accused of divulging information from the classified letter for political gain.
The document in question, known as Cipher, purportedly contains diplomatic correspondence between the Pakistani ambassador to Washington and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad. Despite the gravity of the charges, neither the government nor Khan’s legal team has made the content of the document public.
