Pakistan High Court Acquits Imran, Qureshi in Secrets Leak Case

In Islamabad, a Pakistani high court acquitted former Prime Minister Imran Khan and ex-Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Monday in the state secrets leak case, known as the cipher case, for which they were serving 10-year sentences. The Islamabad High Court division bench, comprising justices Aamer Farooq and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, delivered a concise verdict, accepting their appeals against the convictions.

Imran's counsel, Salman Safdar, praised the judges, stating, "The state had badly failed in proving its case and even its prosecutors had abandoned the case. Hats off to the honourable judges. It was a case of first impression. Imran and Qureshi did not do any anti-state activity."

Despite the acquittal, Imran Khan will remain imprisoned to serve his sentence in the "iddat" case, related to his alleged unlawful marriage to Bushra Bibi, his third wife. Both are serving seven-year jail terms after a trial court ruled that their 2018 marriage broke the law by not completing the waiting period mandated by Islam, called "Iddat," after Bibi divorced her previous husband. Qureshi, on the other hand, remains on physical remand until June 5, accused of inciting violence on May 9 last year when Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) supporters stormed military and civilian government assets following Imran's arrest.

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Imran Khan, a 71-year-old former cricket star, has faced a series of political and legal challenges since being ousted as Prime Minister in April 2022 after losing a confidence vote in parliament. The conviction in the cipher case stemmed from charges related to sharing classified communication between Washington and Islamabad, which Khan claimed was part of a US conspiracy to overthrow his government in 2022 after he visited Moscow just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. However, Washington and Pakistan’s military dismissed the allegation.

Khan's conviction in the cipher case was one of three charges against him leading up to the February 8 elections this year, which he alleged were orchestrated to prevent his return to office. Last year, the same court overturned his conviction in a corruption case involving the unlawful sale of state gifts during his term from 2018 to 2022. The gifts included diamond jewellery and seven watches, six of them Rolexes — the most expensive being $304,000.

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