ISLAMABAD: A court in the federal capital extended the physical remand of PTI Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan for two more days and sent a female social media activist, allegedly linked to the party, on judicial remand.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented Mr Hasan before Dis­trict and Sessions Judge Judge Murid Abbas on Sunday after the expiry of his three-day remand granted last week.

The FIA prosecutor informed the judge that the case record, including transcripts of videos, has been submitted to court.

The forensic analysis of the videos has to be carried out, the prosecutor said and sought eight days’ physical remand of Mr Hasan.

Woman social media activist ‘linked with PTI’ sent to jail

At the last hearing on Thursday, the FIA presented a report to the court claiming that the suspect received “instructions through messages, audio notes, graphics and videos” from abroad on a daily basis.

The agency alleged that Mr Hasan oversees the party’s social media teams that run trends on social media platforms “to incite violence, create law and order situation and fan cyberterrorism”.

During the proceedings on Sunday, the investigation officer also informed the court about Mr Hasan’s travel abroad on a visa allegedly sponsored by an Indian named Rahul.

The judge asked if Mr Hasan’s visa or ticket arrived from India as there was a transcript of the chat between Mr Hasan and Rahul.

The FIA prosecutor confirmed that the ticket came from India.

Mr Hasan said that he runs a regional think tank, and Rahul, who lives in the United Kingdom, invited him to be a guest speaker for an event in Bahrain.

“I am a senior fellow of King’s College London, and I am responsible for dealing with electronic media,” Mr Hasan clarified about his role in the PTI.

“I have nothing to do with social media. I don’t handle social media.”

Following the arguments, the judge extended Mr Hasan’s physical remand for two more days.

‘PTI activist’ remanded

The FIA also presented Syeda Arooba Kanwal, a social media activist, who was allegedly linked with the PTI in court.

The FIA prosecutor claimed that Ms Kanwal was operating the party’s account on social media platform X, which she refused to surrender to the investigators.

The prosecutor sought her physical remand for investigation.

The defendant’s lawyer, Ali Bukhari, said Ms Kanwal was an employee and handled PTI’s social media account.

He claimed the entire case has been based on data retrieved from a cell phone, which is already in FIA’s custody.

Advocate Bukhari requested the court to discharge all the accused. However, the judge sent Ms Kanwal to jail on judicial remand.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2024