Pakistan: All you need to know about cipher case in which Imran Khan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi get 10-year jail term

Just days ahead of parliamentary elections in Pakistan, a special court on Tuesday convicted jailed former prime minister Imran Khan of revealing official secrets and sentenced him to 10 years in jail. 

Khan was convicted in what is popularly known as the cipher case.

He is accused of exposing state secrets by waving a confidential document, the cipher, at a public rally on March 27, 2022. The document is believed to be a diplomatic correspondence between the Pakistani ambassador to Washington and the foreign ministry in Islamabad.

The Federal Investigation Agency filed the case against Khan, 71, and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, 67, on August 15 last year, which accused both of violating the secrecy laws while handling the cable sent by the Pakistan embassy in Washington in March 2022.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party leader had claimed that the document was proof that he was being threatened and that his government’s ouster was a US conspiracy, allegedly executed by the Pakistani government and the military.

Khan has maintained his innocence, saying that he didn’t disclose the exact contents of the document. 

The US and Pakistan governments have denied the allegations.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a senior party leader, was also convicted and received a 10-year sentence for manipulating the contents of the diplomatic cable to gain political advantage.

The verdict was pronounced ahead of the February 8 general elections.

Khan, currently lodged in a Rawalpindi jail, is serving a three-year prison term and more than 150 other cases are still pending against him.

Other charges against the former prime minister range from contempt of court to terrorism and inciting violence.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party dismissed the trial as a sham, and its legal team plans to appeal against the conviction before the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday. 

“Legal team will challenge the decision in a higher court and hopefully will get this sentence suspended, given the poor proceedings of a case when Islamabad High Court had clearly annuled proceedings twice, ordered access to media and public but on the contrary, access of legal team was denied, and decision reached in a haste (sic),” the party said in a WhatsApp message, as per a PTI report.