PTI worker jailed for 3 years for tweet against army, top military leadership

The District and Sessions Court of Punjab’s Faisalabad has booked a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) activist for running a ‘defamatory and threatening’ campaign on Twitter against the top military leadership to ‘defame’ the Pakistan Army. Sentenced to one year imprisonment.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested 30-year-old citizen Sikander Zaman, a PTI supporter, last year on a complaint filed against him under Sections 20 and 24C of the PICA Act 2016, which includes Section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code. And 505 were also added.

According to Pakistan Lawyers Forum, the number of followers on Twitter account of the convicted citizen is 184.

The police also seized Sikandar Zaman’s Twitter account and mobile phone.

According to the marking made in the court’s decision, it was stated in the First Information Report (FIR) that Sikandar Zaman had tweeted against the Pakistan Army regarding the helicopter crash incident last year, which was aimed at There was ‘spreading chaos’ in the society.

It should be remembered that in August 2022, 6 officers of the Pakistan Army and one soldier were martyred in a helicopter crash in Balochistan’s Lasbela district, after which a campaign was launched on social media, which was condemned by the Pakistan Army. was

The FIA had initiated proceedings to trace the factors behind the campaign. PTI worker jailed for 3 years for tweet against army, top military leadership

After arresting Sikandar Zaman, the police produced him in the court and the trial was also started against him and the trial was completed on February 8 and as a result the Additional Sessions Judge Munsif Khan pronounced the verdict.

A copy of the judgment available to Dawn.com said that the accused did not deny that the Twitter account was not his.

“Similarly large amount of stored material, comprising 29 pages, was also revealed during forensics from the recovered mobile’s memory,” the judgment said.

It is further stated that ‘though these 29 pages do not contain the alleged words and it has been explained by the technical staff of the FIA that the forensic report of the mobile phone was prepared in the light of the said limitations provided by the investigating officer. “Forensics were conducted in relation to the posts against the army.”

The court has said that the timing of Sikandar Zaman’s tweets was also “relevant as he made the statement even during the current political situation in the country”.

The court ordered that Sikandar Zaman be immediately arrested and sent to jail.

In the judgment, it has been ordered that ‘the bail is also waived against the accused and the mobile phone recovered from the accused during the raid has been confiscated in favor of the state’.

PTI’s social media focal person Azhar Mashwani said that the party’s Insaf Lawyers Forum is trying to meet Sikander Zaman’s family.

He said in a tweet that “Inshallah the decision will be challenged and the sentence will be suspended”.