A judicial magistrate on Tuesday remanded former lawmaker Ali Wazir, who was booked under various charges after a Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) rally in Islamabad, in judicial custody.
Human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari, who was also arrested along with Wazir got some relief as the judge accepted her bail application in a case related to damaging government property and interfering in the affairs of the state during a protest that was held on August 18.
Imaan was also booked in a separate case involving provisions of terrorism and sedition after the protest and therefore, the bail did not result in her release from the police custody.
On Tuesday, Islamabad Judicial Magistrate Waqas Ahmed heard Wazir and Imaan’s bail applications in the case registered at Tarnol Police Station of the federal capital.
Her lawyer Qaiser Imam told the court that nothing was recovered from Imaan during the investigation. “She neither threatened anyone nor broke anything. There is no justification for her further detention. Imaan Mazari is a woman and one cannot be punished for speaking the truth,” he said.
Read ATC clears MNA Ali Wazir in sedition case
Prosecutor Atifur Rahman opposed the bail application. He said Imaan Mazari hurled abuses at state institutions and was involved in vandalism. The court later accepted Imaan's bail application against a surety bond worth Rs30,000.
The judicial magistrate, however, remanded former lawmaker Ali Wazir.
Ali Wazir and Imaan Mazari were arrested from the federal capital in the wee hours of Sunday.
According to an FIR registered at Tarnol Police Station, Wazir and Mazari were among dozens of people booked under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for being part of a PTM rally that on August 18 tried to “interfere in state affairs”.
When Wazir and Imaan were presented in district and sessions judge on Sunday morning, the authorities had unveiled a second FIR lodged against Wazir, Mazari and others by Islamabad's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) containing allegations of sedition and terrorism.
In view of this FIR, the former MP and the rights activist were on Monday presented in Islamabad’s Anti-Terrorism Court-1 (ATC) which remanded Wazir and Imaan in police custody for three days.
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