A special court set up under the Official Secrets Act has sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to 10 years in prison in the Cipher case, according to Pakistani media.
A special court judge, Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain, found Khan and Qureshi guilty of violating the Official Secrets Act by releasing a diplomatic cable while Khan was in power.
The cipher scandal first surfaced on 27 March 2022, when it was alleged that Khan and his party had leaked secret diplomatic correspondence sent to Islamabad by Pakistan's ambassador in Washington.
He claimed that the cable contained a threat from the United States to overthrow his government and remove him from office, an allegation that Washington has denied.
"There can be no more ridiculous case than the Cipher. What can be more ridiculous than that Pakistan has imprisoned its Prime Minister and Foreign Minister for exposing the foreign conspiracy!!" the party wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Meanwhile, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said it would challenge the court's decision, calling it a "sham case".
"This is not a trial but a fixed match whose outcome was predetermined by the characters and planners of the London Plan and their seals. That is why I already know the decision of this case," Khan wrote in a long post on X.
PTI politician Gohar Khan said the judge of the special court had announced the verdict in haste, adding that the trial was not being conducted in accordance with the law and the constitution.