By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A court on Wednesday granted bail to senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry in a sedition case and ordered his release.
Chaudhry, a close aide of former prime minister Imran Khan, was arrested from his residence in Lahore last week in a pre-dawn raid after a case was registered against him at Islamabad’s Kohsar Police Station on the complaint of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The lodged a complaint with Islamabad police, saying the leader of Khan’s party had “threatened” members of the regulator as well as their families and issued remarks during a TV interview that were tantamount to inciting violence against them.
A judicial magistrate on Monday sent him to jail on a 14-day judicial remand by rejecting a police request for custody to probe him in the case. On Wednesday, an additional sessions court judge granted bail to Chaudhry in the sedition case against a surety bond of Rs20,000.
The judge said that he accepted the bail on the condition that Chaudhry would not repeat his allegation that led to his arrest and the case. “I am granting the bail on the condition that Fawad Chaudhry does not repeat such remarks,” he remarked.
The court order said bail has been granted to the accused. “Therefore, if he is not involved in any other cases, then he should be released after the verification of the surety bonds and must be informed about the date of the next hearing.”
Chaudhry’s arrest comes months after another close Khan aide, Dr. Shahbaz Gill, was arrested by police and accused of inciting mutiny against the military. Gill is out on bail. Another PTI leader, Senator Azam Swati, was also arrested and released on bail in multiple cases, including for posting tweets considered to be anti-military.
Khan says the PTI and its leaders are being subjected to a political crackdown by the Sharif government and the army, with whom the party has fallen out recently. Both deny the charge.
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