ISLAMABAD: A court in the federal capital extended physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Information Secretary Raoof Hasan and other suspects by two more days, handing them over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a case related to dissemination of anti-state content.
Presenting Hasan and other suspects before Duty Judge Mureed Abbas’s court, the FIA prosecutor sought a further eight-day physical remand of Hasan, stressing that the agency cannot carry out the investigation if they are not granted custody of the PTI official.
Noting that the FIA can seek a remand of up to 30 days under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016, he said that the transcript of anti-state videos has also been added to the case record.
On the judge’s question whether Hasan had received a visa or a ticket from India, the prosecutor responded in the affirmative and said that the PTI official had received a ticket from the neighbouring country.
Judicial Magistrate then asked Hasan if he had travelled to India and whether he acknowledged his chat with a person named Rahul.
At this, the PTI’s information secretary said that Rahul lives in the United Kingdom and invited him as a guest speaker in Bahrain in December 2023.
Presenting his arguments, Hasan’s lawyer Shoaib Shaheen said that a person cannot be considered a criminal simply for being part of a WhatsApp group.
“At least PTI workers should be discharged from the case,” said Shaheen.
Speaking in the court, Hasan maintained that the case in which he has been arrested doesn’t fall under his domain as the PTI’s information secretary.
“My responsibility is to deal with electronic media […] Zulfi Bukhari handles international media,” he said while terming allegations levelled against him as “baseless”.
After arguments from both sides, the court then approved an extension of the suspect’s physical remand by two days. However, it dismissed the request for PTI worker Syeda Arooba’s physical remand and ordered for her to be sent to jail on judicial remand.
More to follow…
