Swati 'mistrusts' IHC CJ, requests plea transfer

IHC issues notices to state on senator’s post-arrest bail plea

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati on Monday wrote a hand written letter of mistrust against Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Amir Farooq, requesting transfer of his bail plea to another IHC judge.

In his letter, Swati said that he had been confined in a judicial lock up in a “false case”.

However, sources within IHC told that they haven’t received any letter from Azam Swati.“The special judge – who heard Swati’s bail case – was transferred as usual,” sources claimed.

Azam Swati Referring to his writ petition No 4441/2022, which was rejected by Justice Farooq, he said: “The long delay calls for ‘justice delayed is justice denied’.”

He highlighted that this was a “paramount phrase” that was required due to the chief justice’s late order which resulted in Swati’s transfer from Islamabad.

“I was abducted and was illegally taken from PIMS Hospital on December 2, where I was admitted, to Quetta and then to Sindh, where 46 false FIRs were filed against me,” Swati wrote.

He said that the IHC CJ had given a judgement regarding the tweet which his lawyers presented to Special Court Judge Raja Asif Mehmood who was “transferred immediately for reason unknown to all of us,” after which a new judge was appointed following several days of delay, who dismissed Swati’s bail application “without going into merit and without considering any legal basis and ground”.

The senator asserted that the special court judge should not have been transferred without the consultation of the IHC CJ.

“I know it was done without legal or procedural basis for reason not known to us,” he wrote.

Swati maintained that he has “factual and legal basis to believe that I do not expect justice from your court due to bias based on ‘Asif Zardari case’ in which the Supreme Court so well said that if a reasonable man would say that that the judge was biased and bias may be caused by a judgement, order or observation of superior court, bias would vitiate the confidence”.

Thus, he concluded that he has “no confidence” of getting justice from Justice Farooq’s court, requesting his bail application be transferred “to any other judge of the IHC” which he claimed was in the interest of justice and for the protection of his legal and constitutional rights.

IHC issues notices

This letter came hours after the IHC issued notices to the state on the senator’s post-arrest bail application and adjourned the hearing until January 2 (Monday).

Babar Awan appeared before the court on behalf of Swati who had been arrested in a case of controversial tweets against the armed forces on November 27. Chief Justice Amir Farooq heard the plea.

The Federation, FIA Cybercrime and officer Anisur Rehman had been made respondents.

Rehman had filed the complaint against Swati on behalf of the FIA Cybercrime Wing.

The petition stated that Swati did not post the alleged tweets and that he had no intention to defame any state institution.

The plea further stated that even after the completion of the investigation, the prosecution has no evidence against Swati.

“The petitioner is 75 years old and suffering from a heart disease,” the counsel pleaded.

All cases against Swati are based on documentary allegations, stated the petition, adding that imprisonment would be tantamount to conviction before trial.

The court issued notices to the state and the departments concerned and sought replies by next Monday, January 2, 2023.

Last week, the senator approached a special court in Islamabad for bail. However, Special Judge Central Azam Khan dismissed the plea on the grounds that Swati had “committed the same offence twice”.

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 as they can be easily forged.

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.