Additional district and sessions judges in Pakistan’s Shangla region’s Alpuri and Chakesar tehsils sent 16 PTI activists who had been detained on Saturday to Swat prison on Sunday for violating Section 144 by staging a protest against the detention of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case, according to Pakistani news outlet Dawn. Imran Khan was sentenced to three years in prison on Saturday by the Pakistan District and Sessions Court in the Toshakhana case, which involved the illegal sale of state gifts. He was also banned from politics for a period of five years.
On Saturday, the Shangla administration declared Section 144, imposing a ban on gatherings for a month. However, the PTI activists held a protest against the arrest of the party’s chairman Imran Khan, forcing the administration to start a crackdown on them for violating the ban.
Sub-divisional police officer, Puran, Sher Hassan led raids and arrested seven activists. Later, the arrested PTI activists were produced before the judicial magistrate on duty in Alpuri, who sent them to a prison in Swat, according to Dawn.
Speaking to Dawn, PTI’s Insaf Lawyers’ Forum president Jawad Ali Noor said that nine activists, including three brothers of the Bisham tehsil council chairman, were sent to prison in Swat by an additional sessions judge Chakesar. He said that the Additional Sessions judge rejected the police request for a 15-day physical custody of them.
Jawad Ali Noor said the Bisham police had registered FIRs against 15 PTI activists and arrested nine of them on Saturday. The lawyer further said that they have already filed applications for obtaining bail for the arrested PTI workers, Dawn reported.