A special court on Wednesday extended till September 13 the judicial remand of Imran Khan in a case related to the alleged disclosure of state secrets, dashing the beleaguered former Pakistan prime minister’s hopes of quick release from jail.
Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain, who arrived at Attock jail in the Punjab province to conduct the hearing, issued the order in the case of the missing cipher, a classified state document that Khan had waved during a political rally ahead of his ouster from office last year.
The hearing of the case took place at Attock District Jail following approval by the Law ministry amid security concerns expressed by the Interior ministry.
Authorities decided on Tuesday to hold the hearing of the case inside the Attock jail where 70-year-old Khan has been kept since August 5 after his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case.
Khan’s sentence was suspended by a two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday, but he was not allowed to walk free, as the judge hearing the cipher case ordered that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief be kept in prison and produced for hearing on Wednesday.
According to Geo News report, Judge Zulqernain extended judicial remand till September 13, meaning that Khan will remain in jail.
The same judge ordered Khan’s one-day remand on Tuesday and ordered that he be presented for hearing on Wednesday.
Khan’s five-member legal team — headed by Advocate Salman Safdar — attended the court hearing in the prison, the report said, adding that initially the team was denied access, but was later allowed to enter and meet Khan inside the jail.
Khan’s party said only three lawyers were allowed to represent the former prime minister during the hearing.
Earlier, PTI criticised the decision to conduct hearing in Attock jail.
“When Imran Khan requested technology be used for his daily hearings it was spun as if he was trying to avoid them. Now, the hearing is ordered from his jail cell. Why can’t it be live on TV or at least in presence of his friends and family,” PTI spokesperson Zulfiqar Bukhari said in a statement.
“The world should be able to watch if this illegal hearing has any element of justice within it. The plan was to trample & dismantle PTI … the Constitution & law got brutally murdered instead…,” he said.
