Court extends physical remand of Raoof Hasan and co-accused for three days

A judicial magistrate court in Islamabad has granted an additional three-day physical remand for Raoof Hasan, the Central Secretary of Information for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), along with eight other co-accused.

According to the 24News HD TV channel, after completing two days of physical remand, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented Raoof Hasan and other co-accused persons in the court of Judicial Magistrate Shabbir Bhatti in the digital terrorism case on Thursday.

The FIA legal team appealed to the court to grant eight days of physical remand for the accused persons for investigations. The court initially reserved the decision in the case and, after some time, pronounced it granting an additional three days of physical remand for nine accused, including Raoof Hasan, to the FIA.

Today, FIA presented a total of 11 accused, including Raoof Hasan, Iqar, and Farhat, in court. All these PTI members were facing charges under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). 

During today's hearing, the court granted bail to PTI's two women, Iqra and Farhat, against a surety bond of Rs50,000 each, while others were handed over to FIA on an additional three days of physical remand.

Both the women, Iqra and Farhat, were arrested during the police and FIA raids at the PTI Secretariat in Islamabad and nominated in the FIR. 

During the hearing, the FIA prosecutor informed the court that the women were employed in the PTI media cell and were involved in running campaigns against two state institutions.

The prosecutor argued that if the women were granted bail, it could impact the case, as important sections were applied and evidence was available. 

The prosecutor claimed that the women were employed for a specific purpose in the PTI's secretariat media cell.

Opposing the prosecutor's argument, defence lawyer Ali Bukhari requested the court present evidence showing the roles of Farhat and Iqra in the case. He questioned the material evidence related to the charges too.

Subsequently, the court granted post-arrest bail to the two women from the PTI media cell.

Two days ago, the court of judicial magistrate Abbas Shah in Islamabad granted a physical remand of two days for PTI Central Spokesman and Information Secretary Raoof Hasan to the FIA.

The FIA legal team told the court that there was a need to export the devices related to the social media accounts of the PTI activists involved in negative activities, so his physical remand was required.

FIA also presented the arrested other PTI workers before the judicial magistrate and demanded their physical remand for investigation.

Yesterday, PTI central spokesman Raoof Hasan and coordinator Ahmed Waqas Janjua along with the other 10 workers were arrested from the PTI Secretariat for their involvement in anti-state propaganda.

The Interior Ministry spokesman said in a press statement that Islamabad Police and FIA conducted a raid on PTI's digital media wing.

The police also confiscated computers and other equipment from the secretariat in light of the preliminary investigation and digital content.

The interior ministry spokesperson said that PTI was involved in anti-state propaganda and that a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was being formed to probe the matter.

Earlier, Islamabad Police raided the central office of the Digital Media Cell established in the PTI Secretariat and arrested the central spokesperson Raoof Hasan and PTI coordinator Ahmed Waqas Janjua.

Reporter: Hashar Ahsan