Swati denied bail in controversial tweets case

Special court judge says PTI leader committed same offence twice

ISLAMABAD:

A special court in Islamabad on Wednesday rejected the bail application of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati, who had been arrested in a case of controversial tweets against the armed forces, on the grounds that Swati committed the same offence twice.

Special Judge Central Muhammad Azam Khan heard the bail plea. During the hearing, Prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi explained the account verification procedure on Twitter. He mentioned that there was a “blue tick” on Swati’s account, which meant that the account belonged to the PTI senator.

Opposing the bail application, Prosecutor Abbasi apprised the court that Swati tried to build a narrative against Pakistan Army.

Swati’s lawyer Sohail Khan Swati argued that the case against his client was built on the basis of screenshots of his tweets, adding that cybercrime cases could not be made on screenshots.

After hearing the arguments from both the lawyers, the special court reserved its ruling, which was announced later in the day.

In its order, the court rejected Swati’s bail application, saying that Azam Swati had committed the same offence twice.

Swati was arrested on November 27 after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) booked him in Islamabad over a “campaign of intimidating tweets against state institutions”.

It was the second time that Swati was arrested by the FIA cybercrime wing over his tweets about army officials in less than two months.