A Pakistani court declared the trial of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in jail on charges of leaking state secrets illegal. The special court had been conducting the trial in prison, citing security concerns, since Khan was indicted on the charges last month.
Naeem Panjutha, Khan’s lawyer, announced on the social media platform X that the Islamabad High Court had deemed the notification for the jail trial illegal. The court order declared all proceedings of the trial conducted since Aug. 29 as void.
“The proceedings and the trial conducted in jail premises in a manner that cannot be termed as an open trial stand vitiated,” said the court order.
It stated that the jail trial orders by the government did not fulfill legal requirements, adding that “in exceptional circumstances, and where it is conducive to justice, a trial can be conducted in jail in a manner that fulfills the requirement of an open trial or a trial in camera provided it is in accordance with the procedure provided by law.”
This ruling implies that the prosecution would have to restart the trial, either in open court or in jail after meeting those legal requirements.
Khan’s legal team had challenged the law ministry notification that ordered the trial to be held in prison.
The charges against Khan relate to a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in the United States last year, which Khan is accused of making public.
Former cricket star Khan, 70, who was forced from office in 2022 after losing a no-confidence vote in parliament, has faced numerous legal cases. He has been convicted in one graft case and sentenced to three years in jail, although the sentence was suspended to allow his release on bail. However, he remains in prison in connection with other cases.
Khan alleges that the multiple cases are aimed at keeping him out of politics ahead of a February election due to his differences with the powerful military generals. The military denies engineering Khan’s ouster.
The election is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2024, and former three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who returned from self-imposed exile last month, faces the challenge of winning back supporters of Khan, who remains popular despite being in jail.
