Raoof Hasan granted bail in anti-state propaganda case

An Islamabad court on Thursday approved the bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Information Secretary Raoof Hasan in the anti-state propaganda case.

Duty Magistrate Abbas Shah, a judge of the special court recently formed to hear cases filed under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (PECA) Act, 2016, issued the verdict on Thursday.

The PTI leader cannot come out of jail today as an anti-terrorism court had on Wednesday handed him over to the counter-terrorism department in a terrorism case for two days — the remand ends tomorrow.

Hasan, including nine other suspects, have been granted bail in the case against bail bonds worth Rs50,000.

The PTI information secretary and others, on July 22, were taken into custody by the Islamabad Police and subsequently handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

During the hearing, the defence counsel said that the agency's case against the suspects bases on just one person, Waqas Janjua's statement.

"Three women have already recieved bail; nine others are awaiting an order. The suspects are salaried employees who have nothing to do with Raoof Hasan," he told the court.

They work as watchmen, gardner, messenger at the PTI Secretariat, but they are behind bars for so many days. Let's leave Hasan's issue for now, but what have these salaried people done, he questioned.

"What is state? According to the law and the constitution, the people are the state," he said, concluding his arguments, following which the verdict was reserved and announced shortly.

The case

In its FIR, the FIA stated that while probing PTI activist Ahmad Waqas Janjua, the suspect revealed that he, along with the party's leadership and media cell members were involved in alleged anti-state propaganda.

The charges against the 12 suspects — two of whom are women — include the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act's sections 9 (glorification of an offence), 10 (cyber-terrorism), and 11 (hate speech).

The suspects are Waqas, PTI's top leader Hasan, Afaq Ahmed Alvi, Hameedullah, Rashid Mahmood, Zeeshan Farooq, Syed Osama, Mohammad Rizwan Afzal, Mohammad Rafiq, Syed Hamza, Farhat Khalid, and Iqra.

"...by employing various tactics on social media, [these people are] trying to hurt the integrity of Pakistan as well as sabotage the law and order situation," the FIR, filed on the complaint of CTD Inspector Sajid Ikram, read.

Ikram said that Janjua told his interrogators that the media cell members, with internal and external help, also damage the country's integrity on a daily basis.

To ensure their above mentioned targets, Janjua claimed that a media cell has been established at the Islamabad office, which is headed by Hasan.

The FIR mentions that media cell members take directions from Hasan every day to make the people go up against the state and the army in a bid to create a chaotic situation.

"Fake social media accounts have been created and every day, online campaigns are launched to create an atmosphere of mutiny," it said.

The FIR alleges that the media cell runs slanderous campaigns whenever a terror incident takes place; the campaigns are to create a narrative that lives are being lost due to the policies of the government and law enforcement agencies.