ISLAMABAD: A larger bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) resumes hearing the contempt of court case against former Prime Minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan (Wednesday).
The case will be heard by a five-member bench consisting of IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, and Justice Babar Sattar.
Prior to the hearing, police increased security around the IHC, and the path from the entry gate to the courtroom was blocked off by a tent.
Special passes were also provided to media and attorneys, and the courtroom was cleaned by a bomb disposal team (BDS).
A day before, Imran Khan had petitioned the Supreme Court, requesting that the terrorist case against him be dismissed and offering to retract his remarks about a district and sessions judge.
In response to the IHC’s show-cause notice in the case, the PTI chairman refused to apologize for threatening Islamabad’s extra sessions judge, Zeba Chaudhry, but did offer to delete his words “if they were incorrect.”
“The respondent, as someone who believes in the rule of law and a robust independent judicial system, does not believe in hurting the feelings of honorable judges.”
“The respondent submits with humility that if the words he stated are deemed inappropriate, he is willing to retract them,” he said, encouraging the court to consider the statement in the context in which it was delivered.
Khan further stated that his words against the extra sessions judge were not intended to obstruct justice or damage the integrity and legitimacy of the legal system.
