Court extends Azam Swati’s physical remand for another day
A district and sessions court in Islamabad granted the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) a one-day extension in the physical remand of PTI leader Senator Azam Swati on Sunday in a case related to a tweet against state institutions, including the army chief.
Duty Magistrate Shoaib Akhtar directed officials to present Swati in court tomorrow.
During the hearing, the prosecutor read out Swati’s tweet in which he had sarcastically congratulated “Mr Bajwa” and a few others, saying “your plan is really working and all criminals are getting free at cost of this country” and alleging corruption had been “legitimised”.
While requesting the court to grant a 14-day remand, Prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi said it was necessary to recover the senator’s mobile phone. “The suspect is a political person who has hundreds of thousands of followers. He named the head of the armed forces in a tweet from his verified account.
“The investigation officer needs more time,” he informed the court.
On the other hand, Swati’s counsel Babar Awan requested the court to not grant the FIA physical custody of his client. “My client is being brought to court for the third time,” he added.
Awan said the law laid out the process for launching an investigation, adding that his client’s house had been “raided without a warrant”. A warrant issued by a magistrate was required before such a raid, which was not shown, he argued.
“They (FIA) are saying the army was defamed … They should keep an eye on Swat instead of Swati,” he said, referring to a resurgence of terrorism in the valley.
Awan also showed the court pictures of the raid he claimed was carried out without a warrant on the PTI senator’s house. However, the prosecutor argued that the pictures were taken at the time of Swati’s arrest, which was done after obtaining a warrant.
“Who tortured Swati should be revealed. If someone wants to do politics, he should retire and then do it,” Awan said.
Subsequently, the magistrate extended Swati’s physical remand for another day.
Allegations of torture
Separately, while speaking to the media outside the court, the PTI senator alleged that he had been “handed over to other institutions” after the first information report (FIR) was registered against him, adding that those “institutions” had tortured him.
“I will reveal them in a constitutional manner … [Interior Minister] Rana Sanaullah and DG FIA [Mohsin Butt] have wronged me.”
Swati said he was questioned why he supported PTI Senator Saifullah Khan Nyazee, who was taken into “protective custody” by the FIA earlier this month. “Senator Saifullah Nyazee is Imran Khan’s right arm and a noble man,” he added.
Swati vowed to “bring the DG FIA to book” and lodge a case against the cybercrime wing chief and his team.
In response to a question about whether he remained firm on his tweet, the senator replied, “I will do anything for haqeeqi azaadi (true freedom). I will sacrifice anything.”
A day earlier, the former minister was taken to the PIMS Hospital for a medical examination after which he was presented before the court amid tight security. The court then granted the FIA a one-day extension in Swati’s physical remand.
On Thursday, the court had remanded the PTI leader into FIA custody for two days after Swati named Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in his tweet denouncing the acquittals of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son in a multi-billion-rupee money laundering case, registered against them during the PTI rule.
Talking to reporters after his arrest, Swati had alleged that he was not arrested for breaking the law, violating the Constitution or fundamental rights. He said he was arrested for “taking one name — of Bajwa — and that is the violation”.
He had also accused the “agencies” of custodial torture, saying that a “parliamentarian has been stripped”, after which the court had instructed FIA to get a medical examination of the PTI leader conducted. Swati’s claims had triggered criticism and condemnations from PTI and other segments of society against his alleged torture.
The case
The FIR registered at the FIA’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad, a copy of which Dawn.com has seen, mentions that Swati tweeted with “malafide intentions & ulterior motives” against “State Institutes of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and its Senior Government Functionaries including Chief of The Army Staff of Pakistan Army”.
The FIR adds that such “intimidating tweet/s of blaming and naming through Twitter account i.e., @AzamKhanSwatiPK, is a mischievous act of subversion to create a rift between personnel/s of The Armed Forces and an attempt to harm the State of Pakistan”.
Through the aforementioned tweet, the criminal complaint says, the accused “undermined the Judicial System of the country and also attempted to seduce Army Personnel/s from their allegiance to their duties as subordinates.
“This is calculated attempt to create hatred in the mind of people and Army Personnel/s against COAS and Pakistan Army and also created distrust towards Judicial System. In such intimidating Tweet/s, the accused Muhammad Azam Khan Swati has attempted to provoke general public and Personnel/s of Armed Forces by trying to create a feeling of ill-will among pillars of the State.”
It alleges Swati violated the privacy and intimidated the state institutions, by using false information, “which is likely to incite, any officer, soldier, sailor, or Airman in the Army, Navy or Air Force of Pakistan to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty as such and is also likely to cause fear or alarm in the public and may induce / incite anyone to commit an offence against the State or the State Institution/s or public tranquillity”.
The case was made out against the PTI leader under section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act-2016 read with 131 (abetting mutiny or attempting to seduce a soldier from his duty), 500 (punishment for defamation), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 109 (punishment of abetment) of the Pakistan Penal Code.