PESHAWAR: A local court has turned down the bail petition of a retired army officer arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) over derogatory social media posts against the army chief and Supreme Court judges.

Judicial magistrate Sher Hassan Khan observed that petitioner Mohammad Raza, a resident of Karak district, was an educated man and remained in the services of Pakistan and therefore, ‘sharing remarks’ against the Pakistan Army and top judiciary on social media was prima facie willful and deliberate act on his part.

The court ruled that as per available record, the petitioner was prima facie connected with the commission of offence and so, he was not entitled to the concession of bail.

The petitioner was charged in an FIR registered on April 11 at the FIA Counter-Terrorism Wing’s police station under Pakistan Penal Code sections 500 (punishment for defamation), 501 (printing matter known to be defamatory) and 505 (statement conducing to public mischief).

The court observed that perusal of the record would reveal that the petitioner had knowingly and willfully shared derogatory remarks against the chief of army staff and Pakistan Army as well as against the justices of the Supreme Court on his Twitter account and on other social media forums.

It added that the snapshots of the Twitter accounts of the petitioner were available on the case file.

The petitioner had shared a group photo of the Supreme Court judges on social media with derogatory remarks against them.

An assistant director (legal) of the FIA told the court that the petitioner was directly named in the case and that the evidence available on record clearly showed that he had tried to bring the security forces and judiciary into disrepute.

BAIL GRANTED: An anti-terrorism court here has granted bail to a man arrested on the charges of harbouring terrorists and anti-social elements as well as firing bullets at the security forces in Jamrud area of Khyber tribal district.

The prosecution claimed that there were reports that suspect Fahad Khan had given shelter to terrorists and anti-social elements in his residence prompting the personnel of the Frontier Corps and local police to raid the place to make arrests.

It added that the suspect had fired at the raiding team before he was taken into custody.

Advocate Farhad Afridi appeared for the petitioner and contended that his client was falsely implicated in the case.

He said that the petitioner was not present in his house at the time of the firing.

The counsel said that contrary to the allegations levelled by the law-enforcement agencies, there was no terrorist or anti-social element at the residence of his client.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2022