Former prime minister Imran Khan who is currently incarcerated in Attock Jail filed a plea in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday, challenging his conviction in the Toshakhana case by a trial court. The application was filed by the former premier's lawyers Khawaja Haris and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan. "The decision of the trial court in the Toshakhana case is against the law," stated the plea seeking for the verdict to be annulled. The petitioner's counsels have requested the high court to issue an order for the release of the PTI chief by suspending the sentence pending the decision on the central appeal.

Notably, deposed prime minister Imran Khan was arrested and sent to the famous Attock jail on Saturday hours after a trial court in Islamabad sentenced him to three years in prison while imposing on him a fine of Rs100,000 for making false declarations about his assets to the polls supervisory body, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). On August 5, a trial court in Islamabad had sentenced Imran to three years in prison in the case. The verdict also disqualified Imran from contesting general elections. “He [Imran] cheated while providing information about gifts he obtained from Toshakhana which later proved to be false and inaccurate. His dishonesty has been established beyond doubt,” the 30-page court order said.

The police, already on standby in anticipation of a verdict in the hearing, swung into action minutes after Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar announced the judgment and arrested him from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. On Tuesday Imran filed a petition in the IHC through his lawyer against the trial court’s August 5 verdict, saying that the said order was “not sustainable” and “liable to be set aside”. It stated that the judgment passed by the trial court judge was “tainted with bias, is a nullity in the eye of the law and is liable to be set aside”. Explaining the grounds for its request, the plea said that the Aug 5 order was passed “with the pre-disposed mind” of the trial court judge to convict and sentence the appellant “irrespective of the merits of the case”.

It said the order was issued without providing the petitioner with a chance to fight his case and alleged that ADSJ Dilawar had refused to hear the arguments of Khawaja Haris, Imran’s counsel in the Toshakhana case, on the pretext that he was late — which the plea claimed was because he was filing other applications with the Supreme Court and IHC. “The impugned judgment was announced despite the fact that before commencement counsel for the appellant was very much in court fully prepared to address arguments after explaining the reasons for the delay in arriving in court, but the trial judge, who throughout the proceedings had been exhibiting his extreme bias towards the appellant and his counsel, and constantly using disparaging remarks against them, even in their absence, was bent on carrying out a well-orchestrated plan […].” This, the petition said, was a “slap in the face due process and fair trial” and “a gross travesty of justice”.

It further alleged that the Aug 5 judgment was “already written” by the trial court judge, highlighting how the latter only took “30 minutes” to “dictate more than 35 pages” of the judgment. Moreover, the petition said the verdict was in violation of the IHC’s Aug 4 orders, in which the high court had asked the trial court to “decide afresh” on the PTI chief’s application pertaining to the maintainability of the Toshakhana case.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)