The Balochistan High Court (BHC) on Friday ordered that all first information reports (FIR) registered against Senator Azam Swati of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for his controversial tweets against senior military officers should be cancelled.
Five FIRs were registered in Balochistan against Swati for tweeting against army officials.
Balochistan police had arrested the PTI senator last week from Islamabad, detaining him in their custody after a local court in Quetta approved the law enforcement agency’s request for a physical remand.
The court has directed police to quash all FIRs registered against the senator in the province and release him if he was not booked in any other cases.
Swati was first arrested by the FIA on charges of posting controversial tweets about the armed forces in October and was later released on bail.
The senator has since alleged that he was tortured in custody and demanded the removal of two military officials, one of whom he used foul language against in his tweet on November 26.
On November 27, the FIA arrested Swati for the second time over a “highly obnoxious campaign of intimidating tweets […] against state institutions”.
