The Islamabad High Court (IHC) acquitted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and party Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi after they contested their conviction in the сipher case on Monday.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb rendered a brief verdict upon accepting the appeals of the former Prime Minister and diplomat against their convictions in the case.
A special court, established under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), sentenced both Khan and Qureshi to 10-year prison terms each in January after Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain appointed a state counsel for them.
The Cipher case revolves around a diplomatic document that the Federal Investigation Agency's charge sheet alleges was never returned by then-Prime Minister Khan, who contended that the document
contained a threat from the US aimed at destabilizing his government.
Ironically, Khan was sentenced to jail on charges of "disclosing state secrets" for disclosing this "cipher."
Pakistan's ex-Prime Minister and his PTI government were ousted from power in April 2022 through a parliamentary vote of no confidence, a move for which the former PM openly holds the United States responsible.
The cipher case stemmed from Khan's public exhibition of a paper during a rally in Islamabad on March 27, 2022, claiming it as evidence of an "international conspiracy" before a vote of no-confidence led to his government's removal.
He was arrested on August 5, following his conviction in the Toshakhana case. Later, he was also arrested in the cypher case on August 29.
According to the challan papers,
both Imran and Qureshi were charged under sections 5 and 9 of the OSA, which carry the possibility of the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Previously, the cipher trial commenced inside the Adiala jail, but an IHC division bench subsequently annulled all proceedings, ordering a fresh open-court trial.