Senator Azam Swati released from jail

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati has been released from the Crime Intelligence Agency (CIA) facility after obtaining bail from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the case related to controversial tweets, Aaj News reported on Tuesday.

The court ordered Swati’s release on Monday against surety bonds of Rs200,000 but he could not be released due to the unavailability of the IHC’s written orders about his bail.

As per the procedure, the trial court issued the release order for Swati on Tuesday after receiving the IHC’s written order and the PTI leader’s surety bonds.

A large number of party workers, fellow Senators, and party leaders were present to welcome Swati outside the CIA Centre.

Background

Swati was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on November 27 in a case related to controversial tweets against the military leadership.

This was the second time in less than two months that Swati was arrested.

The arrest came after the FIA booked him in a case registered under Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act 2016 (Peca), which deals with offences against the dignity of a person.

A number of first information reports were registered against him in Balochistan and Sindh for using “derogatory language” and “provoking the people against the army" after which he was handed over to Balochistan police.

The Balochistan High Court (BHC) ordered to quash all FIRs against Swati, before granting him bail last week. However, he was handed over to the Sindh police.

Later, the Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad registry also barred the police from arresting Senator Swati in cases lodged against him within the jurisdiction — which includes Mithi, Nawabshah, and Hyderabad.

At the same hearing, the Sindh prosecutor general informed that the PTI leader had been shifted back to Islamabad, where his judicial remand was extended for another 15 days.

Earlier, Special Judge Central Azam Khan had dismissed Azam Swati’s bail plea, saying he had “committed the same offence twice”.

Swati later challenged the decision in the Islamabad High Court, where Chief Justice Amir Farooq approved his bail.