Pakistani court extends remand of former premier, foreign minister

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – A Pakistani court on Wednesday extended the judicial remand of the country's former Prime Minister Imran Khan for another 14 days in a case that accused him of exposing state secrets, a court record said.

The court also extended the judicial remand of the vice chairman of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, and former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the same case.

The hearing of the case, commonly known as the "cipher case," was held at a prison due to "security reasons" in the northeastern Attock district, where Khan is currently incarcerated.

Khan's lawyer, Naeem Haider Panjotha, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), confirmed that the ex-premier's judicial remand has been extended till Sept. 26.

The case is related to diplomatic communications between Washington and Islamabad, which Khan says was part of a US conspiracy to topple his government.

The ex-prime minister was first remanded in the cipher case last month days before the suspension of his three-year sentence in a graft case by the Islamabad High Court.

Khan, 70, was sentenced by a trial court in Islamabad on Aug. 6 for concealing details and unlawfully selling state gifts he received during his nearly four-year stint as the prime minister from 2018-2022. Consequently, he was barred from holding public office for five years by the country’s election commission.

The cricketer-turned-politician, who is facing a string of cases, was ousted through a no-trust vote in April 2022.