National

Court grants FIA two-day physical remand of PTI Information Secretary Raoof Hasan

ISLAMABAD, July 23 (SABAH): A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Tuesday granted a two-day physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Information Secretary Raoof Hasan to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a case related to his alleged involvement in disseminating anti-state propaganda.

Raoof Hasan, along with other PTI members, was presented before Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah’s court. The FIA prosecutor argued that the remand was necessary to recover devices used for social media accounts, which are crucial for further investigation.

A day earlier, Islamabad Police took Hasan into custody from the party’s Central Secretariat for heading a digital media cell and its alleged involvement in running anti-Pakistan propaganda.

Commenting on the arrest, the police had maintained that the “PTI digital media centre had become a centre of international disinformation, from where anti-Pakistan propaganda is run throughout the world”.

Although it was initially reported that party Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was also arrested, the ICT later clarified that they had only arrested Hasan during the raid at PTI’s Central Secretariat.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the agency’s prosecutor apprised the court that a 30-day physical remand can be granted in an FIA case.

He then urged the court to hand over the PTI official to the investigative agency on a 10-day physical remand.

However, Hasan’s lawyer Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa opposed the prosecutor’s request for physical remand.

Meanwhile, defence counsel Syed Muhammad Ali Bokhari questioned the need for a 10-day remand when there was no evidence against the PTI official.

Stressing that Hasan had nothing to do with the social media [team], the lawyer inquired what investigation had the FIA carried out in the last 24 hours.

“Is it a crime to use a mobile phone?” Bokhari said while further asking if the suspect had posted anything on X.

The court then granted Hasan and other PTI workers’ two-day physical remand to the FIA, whereas two female PTI workers have been sent to jail on a judicial remand for 14 days.