A district and sessions court in Islamabad granted the Federal Investigation Agency a one-day extension in the physical remand of PTI leader Senator Azam Swati on Sunday in a case related to a tweet against state institutions, including the army chief.
Duty Magistrate Shoaib Akhtar directed officials to present Swati in court on Monday.
During the hearing, the prosecutor read out Swati’s tweet in which he had sarcastically congratulated “Mr Bajwa” and a few others, saying “your plan is really working and all criminals are getting free at cost of this country” and alleging corruption had been “legitimised”.
While requesting the court to grant a 14-day remand, Prosecutor Raja Rizwan Abbasi said it was necessary to recover the senator’s mobile phone. “The suspect is a political person who has hundreds of thousands of followers. He named the head of the armed forces in a tweet from his verified account.
“The investigation officer needs more time,” he informed the court. On the other hand, Swati’s counsel Babar Awan requested the court to not grant the FIA physical custody of his client. “My client is being brought to court for the third time,” he added.
