Islamabad High Court approves PTI Senator Swati's bail in controversial tweet case

The Islamabad High Court approved the post-arrest bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Azam Swati, who was arrested over his controversial tweets about military officers, Dawn reported on Monday.

Swati was arrested on November 27 for the "highly obnoxious campaign of intimidating tweets ...against state institutions".

It is pertinent to mention that this is the second time when Swati was arrested for his controversial tweet about army officials in less than two months.

Earlier this month, the Senator approached a special court in Islamabad for bail. However, Special Judge Central Azam Khan dismissed the plea ruling that he had "committed the same offence twice," according to Dawn.

Subsequently, Swati filed a post-arrest bail petition through his lawyer Babar Awan in the IHC, challenging the special court's orders.

After the verdict, PTI hailed and leader Faisal Javed Khan termed it the "best start of 2023" and "an excellent ray of hope" while congratulating the people of Pakistan.

Talking to the media in Islamabad, Khan expressed the wish that "all Pakistanis, parliamentarians and other people -- all will work together for the country's development and most important of all, for the country's independence [and] for actual freedom".

Meanwhile, PTI Senator Shahzad Waseem, who was standing along with Khan, termed the verdict in Swati's favour a "test case for the system of justice".

Waseem said he wanted to salute those judges who stood along with truth and appreciated Sindh High Court judges. He further added that the verdict was the "extremely positive verdict from the Islamabad High Court as well," according to Dawn.

The Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) initially arrested the senator on October 14 after he posted a 'threatening message' against Pakistan's army chief, judiciary and other state institutions, on his official Twitter account, The News International reported.

Azam Swati was granted bail in the case. However, FIA on November 27 again arrested Swati for using abusive language against top military officials, including the former army chief. On December 2, Swati was arrested by Balochistan police in a similar case in Quetta, as per the news report.

At the time of his arrest, Azam Swati was already on judicial remand in Adiala Jail. He was moved 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, according to The News International report.

After issuing an order by the Balochistan High Court, the Sindh Police took the senator into its custody, as per the news report. Azam Swati then filed a case in the Sindh High Court and the court directed the quashing of all cases against the senator in the province. After the orders, he was taken into custody by Islamabad police.

( With inputs from ANI )