IHC agrees to conduct an open-court hearing in Cipher case

The Islamabad High Court has agreed to hold the cipher case hearing in open session.

According to the media reports, the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court Justice Aamer Farooq announced the written judgment on an application to conduct an in-camera hearing on the bail plea of Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the cipher case.

Chief Justice Aamer Farooq of the Islamabad High Court ordered the prosecution to submit a separate motion for the case to be heard in secret. Shah Khawar, the special prosecutor, said during his arguments that some records and information were confidential and sensitive and could not be made public. If the court judged it essential, the public may be kept out of the hearings, according to Khan’s attorney, Barrister Salman Safdar.

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Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court ordered to shift of Chairman PTI Imran Khan from Attock jail to Adiala jail after his lawyers challenged his confinement in the Attock prison. The IHC order stated, “The petitioner is ordered to be shifted from Central Jail Attock to Central Jail Adyala, Rawalpindi, and all the Office Orders/Notifications, transferring the petitioner to Central Jail Attock, are set aside; he shall be entitled to all the facilities which are afforded to a better Class prisoner.”

The court acknowledged that Pakistan’s jails are all overcrowded, but it would be inaccurate to claim that there is no room for further prisoners. It stated: “Since the petitioner’s position is that of an undertrial prisoner, he ought to be detained in Central Jail Adyala, Rawalpindi, and there is no reason for his detention at the present location.