Swati sent to jail on 14-day judicial remand

ISLAMABAD:

A district and sessions court on Thursday sent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati to jail on a 14-day judicial remand in the case related to his “controversial” tweets against senior military officials.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had filed an application seeking judicial remand in the court of Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Shabbir Bhatti before the four-day physical remand was over.

During the hearing, the judicial magistrate accepted the FIA’s request, directing Swati to appear on December 15.

Swati was taken into custody earlier this week for the second time after a raid at his farmhouse in Chak Shahzad by the FIA's Cybercrime Wing Islamabad for allegedly tweeting against senior military officials.

He was later produced before a judicial magistrate, who handed him over to the FIA on a two-day physical remand. Two days later, his physical remand was extended by an additional four days.

Transfer of cases

Swati’s lawyer Babar Awan on Thursday approached the Supreme Court for the transfer of all cases filed against his client in Sindh and Balochistan.

The federation, director general of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and inspector general of Sindh and Balochistan were made parties in the plea.

Swati, stated in his petition, that the federal agency arrested him in a false case, adding that multiple cases were registered against him in the country.

Swati added that he faces a security threat when appearing for cases registered against him in different parts of the country.

In such a case, the senator appealed to the apex court to order the consolidation and transfer of his cases registered against him in Sindh and Balochistan to Islamabad.

The senator appealed to the court that the "operation of FIRs" registered against him be suspended till his plea is heard.

"The petitioner invokes constitutional jurisdiction of this honourable court inter alia on the question of larger public importance and seeks the remedy of transferring all the FIRs at one place/jurisdiction to enable the petitioner to effectively defend himself," stated the petition.

Yasmin Rashid files plea against Swati's arrest

On the other hand, PTI leader Yasmin Rashid filed a petition at the Supreme Court's Lahore registry against Swati's arrest, terming it "illegal".

Rashid claimed in her petition that the senator was arrested on political grounds.

"Action should be taken against those responsible for Azam Swati's arrest," the petition read.

It added that his family was ill-treated and a notice should be taken against this act. It also asked to ensure the sanctity of the house.

The PTI leader said that the women will protest against Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah's treatment towards women.

"We are hopeful that the chief justice will deliver justice to us," she said, adding that she would also file a plea against JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

The arrest

An FIR against Swati was registered by the FIA Cybercrime Wing on November 26, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, over “controversial” tweets he had posted recently, allegedly against government functionaries, including the chief of the army staff.

The report maintained that the PTI leader had started a “highly obnoxious campaign of intimidating tweets” against state institutions, including the army chief “with malafide intentions and ulterior motives”.

This is the second time the PTI senator has been taken into custody.

Earlier, Swati was taken into custody by the agency's cybercrime unit on October 13 for allegedly making “controversial claims” against state institutions, including the army chief.

Almost 10 days later, a district and sessions court in Islamabad had granted Swati post-arrest bail against a surety bond worth Rs1 million.