ISLAMABAD: A District and Sessions Court in Islamabad on Thursday granted two-day physical remand of PTI Senator Azam Khan Swati to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and directed that the accused be taken for a medical checkup before and after the remand period.
The court directed the authorities to produce Swati before it on October 15. The FIA while producing Azam Swati before the court sought his eight-day physical remand. The court, however, granted a two-day physical remand of Swati.
Advocate Babar Awan appeared before the court of Senior Civil Judge Shabbir Bhatti on behalf of Swati and argued that Mr Swati was arrested on political grounds. He also alleged that Swati was tortured during the late-night detention.
In its written order, the court said that Swati has complained of subjected to torture after being arrested at 3:00 am on Thursday. The order said that FIA had informed the court that a “technical comparison” of Swati’s Twitter account had to be conducted.
“Azam Swati is being sent on physical remand for two days for further investigation and the recovery of his other social media accounts”, the court in its order added. FIA’s Cybercrime Unit arrested Azam Swati on early Thursday for allegedly tweeting a “highly obnoxious and intimidating message” against the state institutions, including the army chief.
“Mr Bajwa congratulations to you and few with you. Your plan is really working and all criminals are getting free at cost of this country. With these thugs getting free, you have legitimized corruption. How you predict now the future of this country (sic),” Swati said in his tweeted message.
According to the criminal complaint filed by the FIA, in his tweet Swati named the army chief, and the tweet came after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz were acquitted in a high-profile money laundering case on Wednesday by a Special Central Court in Lahore.
The first information report (FIR) registered at the FIA’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad, stated that Swati tweeted with malafide intentions and ulterior motives against the state institutes of Pakistan and its senior government functionaries including the Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army.