Islamabad’s district and sessions court has handed over Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati in the case pertaining to a tweet against state institutions including the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Bajwa to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on physical remand for one more day.
Earlier, the court had reserved the verdict for some time which was announced later.
Swati was taken to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) for a medical examination before he was presented to the court.
Two days ago, on Thursday, two-day physical remand of the PTI leader was granted by the court after Swati had named the army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa after the acquittal of PM Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in a money laundering case against them.
At the behest of the first hearing in the court, Swati speaking to reporters outside the court had alleged that he was stripped.
At today’s hearing, the court of Senior Civil Judge Muhammad Shabbir was told that that Raja Rizwan Abbasi was appointed prosecutor by the federal government. PTI’s lawyer Babar Awan appeared before the court.
FIA’s prosecutor told the court that the suspect had tweeted from his verified account; further saying that the choice of words was incorrect.
The judge remarked that he had read the file and what had FIA done in two-day remand. The prosecutor informed the court that the phone that was used to tweet and other devices were yet to be seized and therefore further physical remand was required.
However, Babar Awan opposed FIA’s stance and said that they could see wounds on Swati’s body and that the doctors at PIMS hospital were not allowed to write anything.
The first information report (FIR) registered at the FIA’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad has mentioned that Swati had tweeted with “mala fide intentions & ulterior motives” against “State Institutes of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and its Senior Government Functionaries including Chief of The Army Staff of Pakistan Army”.
