Islamabad court rejects Azam Swati’s bail plea

An Islamabad court dismissed on Wednesday the bail plea of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati in a case related to controversial tweets about senior military officers.

Special Judge Central Azam Khan heard arguments from Special Prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi, the government’s lawyer, as well as Swati’s counsel. He dismissed the senator’s bail petition, saying that he had “committed the same offense twice”, it was reported.

Azam Swati shifted to Islambad, SHC informed

Special Prosecutor Rizwan told the court Swati has a blue tick on his Twitter page, which indicates it has been verified by the microblogging site, and that his account is followed by famous personalities.

He added that neither Swati nor his lawyer ever denied that the account in question belonged to the PTI leader.

Background

Swati was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on November 27 in a case related to controversial tweets against the military leadership.

This was the second time in less than two months that Swati was arrested.

The arrest came after the FIA booked him in a case registered under Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act 2016 (Peca), which deals with offences against the dignity of a person.

A number of first information reports were registered against him in Balochistan and Sindh for using “derogatory language” and “provoking the people against the army" after which he was handed over to Balochistan police.

The Balochistan High Court (BHC) ordered to quash all FIRs against Swati, before granting him bail last week. However, he was handed over to the Sindh police.

Later, the Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad registry also barred the police from arresting Senator Swati in cases lodged against him within the jurisdiction — which includes Mithi, Nawabshah, and Hyderabad.

At the same hearing, the Sindh prosecutor general had informed that the PTI leader had been shifted back to Islamabad, where his judicial remand was extended for another 15 days in the FIA case.