The District and Sessions Court of Islamabad handed over Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on a 2-day physical remand on Tuesday.
Other male PTI workers were also given a 2-day physical remand, while two female workers were sent to jail on judicial remand.
The court proceedings, presided over by Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah, began with the FIA prosecutor requesting physical remand to recover social media accounts and devices.
This request was opposed by Raoof Hasan’s lawyer, Latif Khosa, who argued that the PTI office had been sealed and the matter was under review in the High Court.
He emphasised that the Supreme Court had declared PTI a legitimate political party and accused the government of trying to brand PTI members as terrorists.
Khosa drew parallels to historical figures such as Benazir Bhutto and Fatima Jinnah, who were also labelled as traitors in their time.
He asserted that the government was unjustly attempting to ban PTI and mentioned that women candidates were also being arrested to exert pressure on the party. He urged the judiciary to ensure justice.
During the hearing, Khosa requested a copy of the case against Raoof Hasan, criticizing the introduction of the term "digital terrorism" which was being applied to PTI activities.
He noted that the central offices of PTI in Lahore and Islamabad had been closed and that all records had been seized by security officials.
The court provided PTI lawyers with a copy of the case against Hasan. Lawyer Safai Ali Bukhari contended that the incident did not occur at the time mentioned in the case and criticized the baseless inclusion of Hasan's name in the case.
He highlighted that the FIA had already confiscated the devices of PTI workers and ridiculed the seizure of items such as water coolers from the PTI office.
Khosa pointed out that Hasan, a cancer patient from an educated background, had not been subject to proper investigation by the FIA in the past 24 hours. He questioned the necessity of a 10-day remand requested by the FIA, suggesting that the aim was to humiliate rather than investigate.
The court reserved its decision on the physical remand of Raoof Hasan. Meanwhile, PTI shared a video on Twitter, alleging that Islamabad police were specifically targeting the party.
Earlier, PTI sources reported that computers and other equipment had been seized from their secretariat during a police raid. Security officials justified the raid by citing evidence that the PTI digital media cell was a hub for international disinformation.
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