Islamabad court sends Fawad to Adiala jail on judicial remand in sedition case

ISLAMABAD, Jan 27 (SABAH): A judge in the federal capital on Friday turned down a plea for extension in physical remand of PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry in a sedition case.

Judicial Magistrate Waqas Ahmed Raja has sent the former information minister to the Adiala Jail on 14-day judicial remand. The judge announced the verdict after hearing arguments from Fawad’s lawyer Babar Awan and the counsel for the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The PTI senior leader was produced before the court of the judicial magistrate in handcuffs after his two-day remand ended on Friday in the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for threatening the officers of the electoral body in a speech.

During the hearing, the prosecutor pleaded the court to extend physical remand of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader as the investigation team needed more time to complete the probe. Reading out the content of the FIR, he said the former information minister attempted to incite violence against ECP officials and their families.

He said voice-matching test of the suspect had been completed while there was a need to take him to Lahore for photogrammetric test. He also sought permission to search the house of Imran Khan’s aide to recover laptop and mobile phone. He said the role of the electoral body was crucial in the coming months due to elections but Chaudhry was trying to put pressure on the ECP.

Fawad’s lawyer Babar Awan expressed reservations over treatment meted out to his client, stating that the PTI leader was treated as a “terrorist”. He said the statement of Chaudhry was reflection of public opinion against the ECP. He also requested the court to discharge his client’s name from the case.