Jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan pleaded not guilty to charges of leaking state secrets under an indictment on Wednesday that dealt a new blow to his chances of contesting Pakistan’s general election in February.

The charges are related to a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington last year, which Khan is accused of making public.

“The charges were read out loudly in the courtroom,” government prosecutor Shah Khawar told Reuters, saying Khan and his co-accused and former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi both denied the charges.

Khan’s lawyer, Barrister Gohar Khan, contested the indictment, saying it would be valid only if signed by the accused.

The former Prime Minister has previously said the contents of the cable appeared in the media from other sources.

A guilty verdict under the Official Secrets Act could bring up to 10 years in prison, lawyers said.

It is the second time Khan has been indicted on the same charges after a superior court struck down an earlier indictment on technical grounds, saying the correct procedure had not been followed.

The trial is being conducted in jail on security grounds. Khan has been in jail since he was convicted and sentenced to three years on corruption charges on August 5.

Khan says the cable was proof of a conspiracy by the Pakistani military and US government to topple his government in 2022 after he visited Moscow just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Washington and the Pakistan military deny the accusations.