The Islamabad High Court rejected on Thursday PTI chief Imran Khan’s petition against the indictment process in the cipher case.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard the petition pertaining to the objections against the special court’s decision on October 23. Khan’s lawyer Salman Safdar appeared in court.

Earlier this week, a special court established under the Official Secrets Act indicted former PM Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case. The charge is related to a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington early last year, which Khan is accused of making public.

A guilty verdict under the Official Secrets Act could bring up to 14 years in prison or even a death sentence, lawyers and the law say.

On Thursday, the court disposed of the petition after ordering that the PTI chairman should be given the right to a transparent trial.

“The petition to stop the trial has been rejected! Now tomorrow the trial will be in jail and witnesses have been summoned to testify,” Spokesman to Imran Khan on Legal Affairs Naeem Haider Panjutha said in a post on X.

In a veiled reference to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s case, he said that on the other hand consecutive bail petitions were approved.

Panjutha in his previous posts claimed that the decision on the request for bail and dismissal of the case in the cipher case was reserved for the past 10 days. He wrote it after the court restored Nawaz’s appeals in Al-Azizia and Avenfield reference. “On the other hand bail was given to [one side] in 420 seconds!”

Khan’s lawyer Safdar informed the court that it took him 10 days to present arguments on the bail application.

To this, IHC CJ Farooq remarked that for the same reason, it took him 10 days. He told the Khan’s lawyer that such type of case had come up for the first time. The judge added that he was also taking time in the case as arguments were “well presented” from both sides.

The lawyer urged the court to intervene in the case, saying that the cipher was not part of the challan or the file. He added that neither they were given the “changed” nor the “original” as there were allegations of tweaking the words of the diplomatic cable.

Safdar added that it was important to submit the challan in which the court orders were “repeatedly mentioned”. According to the lawyer, the judge framed the charge in “haste” and urged the high court to follow the process.

The PTI chairman wrote on the charge sheet that he was not given the copies, the lawyer said, and claimed that the trial court stated that it would reject the petition no matter how it was.

To this, the court asked the lawyer where it was written. In reply, he produced the October 17 in front of the court.

While requesting the court to halt the trial of the cipher case, Safdar urged that the trial court should be stopped from recording the statements of witnesses.

Later, the court reserved the verdict.