PTI chairman to remain in Attock jail despite Toshakhana sentence suspension

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Abdullah Jan

Islamabad: A special court in Islamabad on Tuesday ordered Attock Jail authorities — where the former premier is incarcerated — to keep the PTI chairman in judicial lockup in cipher case.

The order comes hours after IHC suspended PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s three-year sentence in the Toshakhana case.

In a letter addressed to the Attock jail superintendent, the special court ordered jail authorities to produce Imran Khan on Aug 30 (tomorrow) in connection with the cipher case.

“That accused Imran Khan Niazi s/o Ikramullah Khan Niazi r/o Zaman Park, Lahore is hereby ordered for judicial remand in case FIR mentioned above, who is already detained in district jail, Attock,” the letter read.

It merits here to mention that PTI chief Imran Khan and party leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi were named in an FIR registered on August 5 under the Official Secrets Act.

The verdict was reserved a day earlier after the completion of the arguments from the respondents.

The IHC in its short verdict, ordered to release of the PTI chairman on bail from Attock Jail and remarked that it would give the reasons for the suspension of the sentence in the detailed verdict later.

The PTI chairman challenged the cessation of his right to defense by the trial court in the Toshakhana case in the Islamabad High Court.

The petitioner pleaded to the high court to declare the trial court’s order void and restore his right to defence in the case. PTI chairman also requested the court to immediately take up his petition.

On August 5, the District and Sessions Court awarded three years jail term to the PTI chairman in Toshakhana criminal case.

The court also imposed Rs 100,000 fine on the convicted chief of the PTI. The court also declared the former prime minister ineligible to hold public office for five years.

The court in its verdict said that the accused had been found guilty of corrupt practices and handed the PTI chairman three years jail sentence.

“Imran Khan deliberately submitted fake details [of Toshakhana gifts] to the ECP and is found guilty of corrupt practices,” he stated.

The court also declared the former prime minister ineligible to hold public office for five years.

The much-anticipated order in the Toshakhana case was announced by an IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahan­giri on the former prime minister’s appeal against his prison term.

The verdict was reserved a day earlier after the completion of the arguments from the respondents.

The IHC in its short verdict, ordered to release of the PTI chairman on bail from Attock Jail and remarked that it would give the reasons for the suspension of the sentence in the detailed verdict later.

The PTI chairman challenged the cessation of his right to defense by the trial court in the Toshakhana case in the Islamabad High Court.

The petitioner pleaded to the high court to declare the trial court’s order void and restore his right to defence in the case. PTI chairman also requested the court to immediately take up his petition.

On August 5, the District and Sessions Court awarded three years jail term to the PTI chairman in Toshakhana criminal case.

The court also imposed Rs 100,000 fine on the convicted chief of the PTI. The court also declared the former prime minister ineligible to hold public office for five years.

The court in its verdict said that the accused had been found guilty of corrupt practices and handed the PTI chairman three years jail sentence.

“Imran Khan deliberately submitted fake details [of Toshakhana gifts] to the ECP and is found guilty of corrupt practices,” he stated.

The court also declared the former prime minister ineligible to hold public office for five years