ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will Monday (today) take up a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Azam Swati, seeking post-arrest bail in the controversial tweets case filed against him.
A single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq will conduct hearing of the PTI senator’s plea that moved the court through his counsel Babar Awan advocate.
Earlier, the trial court judge Azam Khan dismissed the PTI leader’s bail plea on December 21, saying Swati committed the same offence twice. In the petition, Swati stated that he did not post derogatory remarks against any institutions and had no intention to “defame any respectable institution.” He added that the prosecution has no proof against him despite the investigation.
The petitioner’s counsel adopted the stance that his client is 75 years old and a heart patient; jailing him would be a sentence without conviction.
It recalled that Swati was earlier remanded into FIA’s custody but nothing ‘incriminating’ was recovered from him and hence he was sent to jail on judicial remand.
It pointed out that the Balochistan High Court had quashed all the FIRs [registered against him] in two petitions.
It further said that the BHC had also barred the police from filing further cases against him. “But he [Swati] was again kidnapped in another FIR lodged against him in Sindh,” the petition said, adding , later on, the Singh High Court (SHC) had placed all the FIRs against him in C-class.
The senator is booked in multiple cases for his controversial tweets against top military officials including the former army chief General (retd) Qamar Javed Bajwa.