ISLAMABAD:The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday reserved its verdict on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder’s plea challenging his jail trial in the Toshakhana and Al-Qadir Trust cases, following the completion of arguments.
A two-member IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri heard the case.
Defence counsel Shoaib Shaheen contended that the reference was filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a haste as the notification for jail trial was issued before its filing.
The Federal Government issued the trial notification on November 28, and the reference was filed on December 20, whereas, the second notification was issued on November 14, and the reference was filed on December 4, he added.
Justice Tariq Jahangiri asked whether the trial court conducted any proceedings during the period between the issuance of the notification and the filing of the reference.
The NAB prosecutor replied that the PTI founder was arrested on November 13 in the 1
90-million-pound scam case.
Shoaib Shaheen said that there was no court order existed related to the jail trial. They were not against the jail trail, but some parameters should be followed in that regard, he added.
Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan apprised the court that screenshots from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube were available as evidence, indicating that the media had been granted access to the trial.
Later, the court reserved its verdict on the PTI founder’s plea seeking annulment of his jail trial in two corruption cases.