Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and his close raise Shah Mahmood Qureshi have been handed 10-year prison sentence in the cipher case, according to Pakistani media reports.

Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqernain of the Official Secrets Act special court presiding over the case delivered the verdict after conducting the proceedings in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

The cipher case

Imran Khan faced allegations that he violated the Official Secrets Act when he disclosed a secret diplomatic cable, called the cipher. This was sent by Pakistan’s embassy in Washington last year in March. Khan reportedly lost possession of the diplomatic cable later.

Both Khan and Qureshi had claimed that the cable had a threat from the US to topple the PTI government which was then in power in Pakistan.

(More to follow)