The Islamabad High Court in Pakistan on Monday acquitted the State’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, and ex-Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in the highly publicized Cipher Case. The two former leaders appealed to the High Court after a special court sentenced them to 10 years of imprisonment in January. The court’s Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb have accepted their appeal, much to the relief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI Party), which Khan founded and led during his term as Prime Minister from 2018 – 2022.

The Cipher Case involves the leaking of state secrets. Both of the accused were first indicted in October and again in December after the Islamabad High Court ruled that the notification received by the defense for a jail trial was erroneous and annulled the initial proceedings. More specifically, Khan and Queresi faced allegations that they mishandled diplomatic communications with the US. The documents concerned are alleged to contain threats from the US Government to the Pakistani Government.

The prosecution argued that the mishandling of the diplomatic communications constituted a breach of national security. They further argued that the former prime minister continuously ignored warnings about the cipher. The defence on the other hand argued that there is no substantive evidence demonstrating that Khan intentionally withheld the cipher. They claim that if the cipher had gone missing, it would be impossible to convict someone of possessing it. Furthermore, the defense contends that there was no proof of any damage to international relations occurring as a result of this exchange.

The court held that the claims made by the prosecution were mere allegations and that they did not meet the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt to establish a deliberate intent to jeopardize state security. The High Court scrutinized the prosecution’s inconsistencies along with the proportionality of the 10-year sentence from the special court. The Court ruled in favor of  Khan and Qureshi, upholding their appeal.

The defense also made an argument claiming that any further delays to the case would be unjustifiable due to the previous suspensions. This case thus underpinned the necessity to meet the burden of proof as well as the importance of due process regarding the rule of law.

Despite the acquittal, both ex-leaders are to remain in jail due to their convictions in other cases. Many individuals are celebrating the decision and calling for the release of the ex-leader Khan. The PTI Party’s official X account posted on Monday that, “Today marks a historic day in the nation’s struggle for freedom, justice, rule of law, protection of the constitution, true democracy, human rights & our Haqeeqi Azadi!”

The ex-prime minister now only awaits the decision in the pending Iddat case, which is to be heard later this month.