A court in Quetta has granted a five-day physical detention to Pakistan Tehreek-e0Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati who was detained in connection with a contentious Twitter case.
Swati was taken into prison by Quetta Police from Islamabad two days ago and transferred to Balochistan although the District and Sessions Court of Islamabad had ordered him to be jailed on a 14-day judicial detention the day before.
Swati was brought before a duty magistrate in Quetta’s Court in connection with a charge filed at the Kuchlak police station for using derogatory words on national institutions. The police asked the court for a 10-day remand of Swati but the judge only gave him a five-day remand and turned him over to the police.
On the day of Swati’s appearance, strict security measures were arranged and he was carried to the court via the back gate.
On this occasion, Qasim Khan Suri, former deputy speaker of the National Assembly and provincial president of the PTI stated that bogus FIRs had been filed against Azam Swati. He stated that Azam Swati’s health was deteriorating and that FIRs have been filed against all leaders including Imran Khan.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) detained PTI Senator Khan Swati on November 27 for his inflammatory tweet criticizing army officers. The FIA has registered a first information report (FIR) against Swati based on the state’s complaint and the complaint of Anis-ur-Rehman, technical assistant at the Islamabad Cyber Crime Reporting Center.
The former federal minister was charged under Section 20 of the PECA 2016 as well as Sections 131, 500, 501, 505 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code. According to the FIR Swati and the accounts launched an extremely aggressive Twitter campaign against state institutions, top officials and General Qamar Javed Bajwa with ulterior intentions and ulterior motivations.
