PTI's Raoof Hasan sent on judicial remand in anti-state propaganda case

Court denies FIA's request for additional five-day physical remand after extending multiple times for inquiry

ISLAMABAD:

A court in Islamabad has remanded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Raoof Hasan and other suspects to a 14-day judicial custody in an anti-state propaganda case.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented Hasan before District and Sessions Judge Shafiq Bhatti, who denied the FIA's request for an additional five-day physical remand.

Read Islamabad Police arrest PTI's Raoof Hasan

On Monday, Islamabad Police arrested Hasan during a raid on the PTI Secretariat, seizing a computer and other items. According to sources, authorities allege that the digital media cell at PTI's office had become a hub for international disinformation, where anti-Pakistan propaganda was being carried out in collaboration with enemy agencies.

However, PTI condemned the raid, accusing law enforcers of seizing affidavits from MNAs and MPAs that stand crucial for verifying party affiliations and could significantly impact the National Assembly's composition.

Hasan, along with other PTI members, was presented before Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah's court where PTI’s lawyer, Latif Khosa, argued that Hasan has no connection to the digital media wing and that it is unjust to label them as traitors.

Following this, Hasan was granted physical remand on Tuesday and the remand has been extended multiple times.

Read Raoof Hasan's remand extended by three days

Hasan had previously informed the court that the allegations against him were "baseless." The FIA has charged PTI's information secretary and other media cell members with anti-Pakistan propaganda. The charges include sections 9 (glorification of an offence), 10 (cyber-terrorism), and 11 (hate speech) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

The suspects include Waqas, PTI leader Hasan, Afaq Ahmed Alvi, Hameedullah, Rashid Mahmood, Zeeshan Farooq, Syed Osama, Mohammad Rizwan Afzal, Mohammad Rafiq, Syed Hamza, Farhat Khalid, and Iqra. The FIR, based on a complaint by CTD Inspector Sajid Ikram, alleges that the suspects used social media to harm Pakistan's integrity and disrupt law and order. It also states that Janjua confessed that the media cell, under Hasan's direction and with internal and external support, incited people against the state and the army daily to create chaos.