Hearing of Al-Qadir Trust case: Imran, Bushra barred from making statements against state institutions & officials

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court has barred Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding chairman Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi from making statements against state institutions and officials during the hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust case.

Accountability Court judge, Nasir Javed Rana, in its written judgment on the petition seeking a fair trial, ordered Khan and his wife from making any political, inflammatory, and or derogatory statements vis-a-vis state institutions and the officials insinuating anything to them.

The court order says that media personnel shall confine their reporting to the proceedings of the trial and shall not publish/report any statement made in the trial proceedings, as witness or as counsel.

The court also directed that jail authorities shall restore the courtroom to its pre-Eid setting by removing the additional structure installed in the courtroom.

The petition was filed by Salman Safdar on behalf of accused Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi presently confined in jail for conducting a trial in open court, it says.

In its order, the court also instructed the prosecution, the accused and their defence counsels to not make political or inflammatory statements which may disrupt the decorum of the court. “It is the responsibility of the court to maintain the requirements of court etiquette and fair trial,” the judge ordered.

The order says that the main contention of petitioners was that their trial was being conducted in the jail premises in the presence of the general public and media personnel but unfortunately, after the recent Eid-ul-Fitr, the jail authorities erected wooden and glass structures by partitioning the courtroom and stopping media personal and general public to observe the court proceedings which act of the jail authorities is against the concept of open court proceedings as enshrined under Section 352 CrPC; therefore, the said structure etc may be removed by restoring the previous status of the court.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024