Islamabad court throws out Azam Swati’s bail plea in controversial tweets case

• Court says senator committed "same offence" for second time.
• Judge had reserved verdict after hearing arguments in case.
• Senator was booked by FIA for using abusive language on November 27.

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad court on Wednesday rejected the bail plea of Senator Azam Swati’s in the controversial tweets case against him, saying the "same offence" has been committed twice.

The verdict was issued by Islamabad Special Judge Central Azam Khan. He had reserved the judgement earlier today. 

During the hearing, prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi explained the court the process of verifying a Twitter account. He added that Swati has a “blue tick” on his Twitter account and is followed by famous personalities.

“Famous journalists and political personalities follow Azam Swati," said the lawyer. He added that the senator has never distanced himself from the account.

“There is no question that the Twitter account is not of Azam Swati,” said Abbasi.

While concluding his arguments the prosecutor and government lawyer urged the court not to grant bail to the senator in the case.

On the other hand, the PTI senator’s lawyer, Sohail Khan, contended that a cybercrime case cannot be registered over screenshots.

The judge after hearing the arguments reserved the verdict and said that it would be issued in 20 minutes. 

Controversial tweets cases

Swati is booked in multiple cases across the country for his controversial tweets against senior military officers. 

Initially, the senator was arrested by the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA), on October 14, after he posted a highly-hateful and threatening message against the army chief, judiciary and other state institutions, on his official Twitter account.

The senator had secured bail in that case. But on November 27, FIA once again arrested Swati for using abusive language against the top military brass, including the former army chief.

The senator was booked in multiple cases across the country related to those tweets. 

On December 2, Balochistan police arrested Swati for a similar case registered against him in Quetta.

At the time of his arrest, he was already on judicial remand in Adiala Jail and was shifted to Quetta under a transit remand acquired by the Balochistan police.

Later, Balochistan High Court (BHC) ordered the quashing of all cases registered against the senator in the case. 

Once, BHC issued the order the Sindh Police took the senator into its custody over the case. 

The senator then approached the Sindh High Court. The court also directed the quashing of all cases against senator in the province after the police said that the cases have been labelled as "C class". 

Following the orders, Islamabad Police took the senator into his custody and brought him to the federal capital.