Pakistan court grants bail to ex-PM Khan’s information secretary in terror funding case

ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Tuesday approved bail for Raoof Hasan, the information secretary of former Prime Minister’s Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, who was arrested last month.
Dozens of policemen surrounded the party’s Islamabad secretariat on July 22 and then led away Hasan, who was later charged with terror financing along with another PTI media manager, Ahmed Waqas Janjua, who is also in jail. Both deny the charges.
The PTI says the legal cases against its leaders and members are part of a state-backed crackdown, which has included bans on holding rallies and arrests of party leaders and supporters. The government denies persecuting opposition parties. 
“ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra approved the PTI politician’s bail petition against surety bonds worth Rs200,000,” Pakistan’s Geo News reported about Hasan’s bail, which was widely reported by the country’s print and electronic media.
It was unclear when Hasan would be released. 
Last month, the Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) filed new charges against Janjua under the country’s cybercrime law. A police report quoted Janjua as saying during interrogation that “we [social media team of Khan’s party] have been damaging the country daily with the help of internal and external forces, and for it, an anti-state narrative is built daily on social media to damage the country’s sovereignty, integrity and freedom.”
While it was unclear under what conditions Janjua provided the so-called confession, Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, ex-PM Khan’s key adviser on media, said this was a “fake confession” and could not work in a court of law.
The federal government also last month formed a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe individuals accused of “spreading chaos” in the country through a “malicious social media campaign.” The development came after a Pakistani military spokesman, in a veiled reference to the PTI party, accused “digital terrorists” of making the military’s anti-militancy efforts controversial on social media platforms.
Khan came to power in 2018 and was ousted in 2022 after what is widely believed to be a falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military, which had helped propel him into office. The army denies political interference.
Since his ouster, the PTI founder and his party have faced a crackdown and Khan himself has been in jail since August last year, though all four convictions handed down to him ahead of a parliamentary election in February have either been suspended or overturned but he remains in jail on new charges. 
Khan says all legal cases against him are motivated to keep him out of politics and dent the popularity of the PTI.