- Two PTI workers' bail requests approved.
- Raoof Hasan and others appeared in court today.
- Two women employed for “special purposes”: FIA.
ISLAMABAD: A court in the federal capital has approved an extension of the physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson Raoof Hasan, handing him over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for three more days.
The FIA has arrested PTI's information secretary and several other members of the PTI media cell for running a digital media cell and their alleged involvement in running propaganda against Pakistan.
Police said that “the PTI digital media centre has become an international disinformation hub, from where anti-Pakistan propaganda is spread across the world.”
Hasan and other detainees appeared in court today after serving two days of pre-trial detention.
During the hearing, the bail petitions of two arrested women members of the PTI Secretariat were approved against bail bonds of Rs 50,000 each.
The FIA prosecutor, during today's hearing, said that social media campaigns were carried out against two state institutions.
The lawyer claimed that the two women named in the FIR were employees of the PTI's social media cell and granting them bail would affect the case.
“The sections of the Peca (Electronic Crimes Prevention Act) imposed on both women are also important; we also have evidence against them,” said the prosecutor.
In response, defense attorney Ali Bukhari said that if the federal agency has evidence, then it should present it to the court.
The FIA prosecutor then claimed that the two women had been hired for a “special purpose” and asked the court to extend the pre-trial detention of the 12 suspects, including Hasan.
The lawyer added that the social media accounts have not yet been recovered and denounced that in exchange for money there are people who operate WhatsApp groups and that people abroad are also involved in this act.
The prosecutor said that during the investigation, FIA officials also discovered that fake accounts were being operated from the suspects' mobile phones.
The FIA prosecutor added that Hasan heads the social media team. He said that campaigns are being carried out against the administration and the judiciary, adding that the agency needs more time to gather evidence as it only has one social media expert.
“The purpose of physical remand is not only for recovery, but it can also be taken as an investigative measure. We do not want to pass sentence against Raoof Hasan and others, but we simply want to investigate.”
The case
In its FIR, the FIA claimed that while investigating PTI activist Ahmad Waqas Janjua, the suspect revealed that he, along with the party leadership and members of the media cell, were involved in alleged anti-state propaganda.
The charges against the 12 suspects, two of whom are women, include Sections 9 (glorification of a crime), 10 (cyberterrorism) and 11 (hate speech) of PECA.
The suspects are Waqas, PTI top leader Hasan, Afaq Ahmed Alvi, Hameedullah, Rashid Mahmood, Zeeshan Farooq, Syed Osama, Mohammad Rizwan Afzal, Mohammad Rafiq, Syed Hamza, Farhat Khalid and Iqra.
“…using various tactics on social media, [these people are] “trying to harm the integrity of Pakistan as well as sabotage the law and order situation,” reads the FIR, filed following a complaint by CTD inspector Sajid Ikram.
Ikram said Janjua told his interrogators that members of the media cell, with help from within and outside, also damage the integrity of the country on a daily basis.
To ensure his aforementioned objectives, Janjua claimed that a media cell has been established in the Islamabad office, headed by Hasan.
The FIR mentions that members of the media cell are being instructed by Hasan on a daily basis to make people confront the state and the army in a bid to create a chaotic situation.
“Fake accounts have been created on social media and online campaigns are launched every day to create an atmosphere of unrest,” he said.
The FIR alleges that the media cell carries out smear campaigns whenever a terrorist incident occurs; the campaigns are aimed at creating a narrative that lives are being lost due to the policies of the government and law enforcement agencies.
