Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's hopes of quick release from jail have been dashed as a special court extended his judicial remand until September 13. The court issued the order in the case of the missing cipher, a classified state document that Khan had waved during a political rally before his ouster from office last year. The case revolves around the alleged disclosure of state secrets.

The hearing took place at Attock District Jail, where Khan has been held since August 5 after his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case. Khan's sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court, but he was not released as the judge hearing the cipher case ordered his continued imprisonment. Khan's close aide and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is also in custody in the same case.

The case alleges that Khan and others were involved in the violation of the secret laws of the country. Khan denies that the paper he waved at the public gathering was the cipher, claiming he lost it. The alleged cipher contained an account of a meeting between US State Department officials and a Pakistani envoy. Khan has long referred to the missing cable as evidence of a foreign conspiracy to remove him as prime minister.