IHC reserves verdict on Imran Khan’s pleas against his jail trial

In an important development, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday reserved its verdict on the former prime minister and ex-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan’s pleas, challenging his jail trail in the Toshakhana and 190 million pounds corruption references, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

A two-member bench of the IHC, comprising Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, reserved the verdict after hearing the arguments.

During the hearing, NAB lawyer Amjad Pervaiz told the court that Imran was arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case on November 13. “The arrest was made after getting the permission from the Official Secrets Act Special Court,” he added.

Imran’s lawyer Shoaib Shaheen, on the other hand, remarked that after the latest amendment to the NAB law, the authority for appointing judges had changed. “The NAB submitted a request on November 13 and a summary was prepared the same day and the cabinet also approved it immediately,” the lawyer said.

Disagreeing with the AGP’s claim that people had access to the court, he said that he could say it on record that the lawyers, who accompanied him, were not allowed to enter the court.

“The judges have stopped all their work and are sitting in jail only for a trial in these cases,” Advocate Shaheen claimed.

On January 9, an accountability court had indicted ex-premier Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi in the Toshakhana reference filed against them by the NAB.

Reporter: Ihtesham Kiani