ISLAMABAD: A court in the federal capital has granted bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Information Minister Raouf Hasan in an anti-state propaganda case, but he will not be released.
Duty Magistrate Abbas Shah, the judge of the special court recently formed to hear cases filed under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016, delivered the verdict on Thursday.
The PTI leader cannot come out of jail today as an anti-terror court on Wednesday handed him over to the counter-terrorism department in a terrorism case for two days — the remand ends tomorrow.
Hasan, along with nine other suspects, were granted bail in the case against bail of Rs 50,000.
PTI’s information secretary and others were taken into custody by the Islamabad police on July 22 and subsequently handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
During the hearing, the defense counsel said that the agency’s case against the suspects is based on only one person, the statement of Waqas Janjua.
“Three women have already been granted bail, nine others are awaiting warrant. The suspects are employees who have nothing to do with Raoof Hasan,” he told the court.
They work as watchmen, guards, messengers at the PTI secretariat, but they are behind the bars for so many days. Let us now leave Hasan’s problem, but what did these paid people do, he asked.
“What is a state? According to the law and the constitution, the people are the state,” he concluded his argument, after which the verdict was delayed and announced shortly after.
Housing
In its FIR, the FIA said that during the investigation of PTI activist Ahmad Waqas Janju, the suspect revealed that he was involved in alleged anti-state propaganda along with party leadership and media cell members.
The charges against the 12 suspects – two of whom are women – include Sections 9 (glorification of crime), 10 (cyber terrorism) and 11 (hate speech) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.
The suspects are Waqas, PTI’s top leader Hasan, Afaq Ahmed Alvi, Hameedullah, Rashid Mahmood, Zeeshan Farooq, Syed Usama, Mohammad Rizwan Afzal, Mohammad Rafiq, Syed Hamza, Farhat Khalid and Iqra.
“…using various tactics on social media, [these people] are trying to damage the integrity of Pakistan and sabotage the law and order situation,” the FIR said based on a complaint by CTD Inspector Sajid Ikram.
