Pakistan's Supreme Court approved former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and vice-chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi's post-arrest bail applications in the cipher case, Pakistani media reported.
The PTI founder was indicted in the cipher case again earlier this month by the special court established under the Official Secrets Act 2023 after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared their jail trial null and void.
During the hearing, Imran Khan claimed that "powerful people" behind the cipher case were being protected.
“I ordered to initiate an inquiry into the matter when I was the prime minister,” he said, adding that his party leaders were being locked inside jails "like goats" while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif was brought back to Pakistan.
Imran Khan, on 27 March the previous year, pulled a piece of paper during a public rally in Islamabad, alleging it to be a secret cipher. He claimed that it served as evidence of a plot to overthrow his government, labeling it an "international conspiracy."
Consequently, Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) detained Khan and former minister Qureshi, charging them with the misuse of official secret information and illegal retention of the encrypted telegram with malicious intent.