A special court ordered that Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi should be produced in court on November 28 in the cipher case.

For the first time since the trial began, the cipher case hearing took place at the Judicial Complex in G-11 instead of Adiala jail.

Judge Abu Alhasnaat Zulqurnain presided over the hearing which was wrapped up within minutes.

Lawyers Taimur Malik, Ali Bukhari and Khalid Yousaf appeared at the hearing. The judge asked for the copy of the Islamabad High COurt’s divisional bench, which was upplied by the court staff.

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The Islamabad High Court had ruled jail trial in the cipher case to be illegal on November 21. The court had declared proceedings since August 29 to be illegal, including the indictment.

It added that the notification issued by the law ministry on August 29 to allow the jail trial was declared to be “without lawful authority and no legal effect…”

Moreover, notifications issued by the law ministry on November 13 and November 15 after decisions taken by the cabinet were “declared to be of no legal consequence” for not having been preceded by an order of the learned special court judge.

Therefore, all proceedings of the court upto November 21 were declared illegal and of no consequence by the court.

The cipher case pertains to a diplomatic document that reportedly went missing from Khan’s possession. The PTI alleges that the document contained a threat from the United States to oust Imran from office because of his stance on Russia.