Tuesday Jun 06, 2023
Gill is due to appear in court to hear the sedition case.
PTI leader's lawyer seeks exemption from hearing.
Court rejects lawyer's plea and cancels Shahbaz Gill's bail.
ISLAMABAD: A local court in the federal capital on Tuesday issued a non-bailable warrant against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill in a sedition case registered against him.
Gill, who is currently in the United States, faces charges of sedition for inciting a mutiny in the Pakistani army through his remarks during a private television channel show.
Last August, a case of sedition and return of arms was filed against Gill. He was arrested and remained in custody for more than a month, but was released on bail by the Islamabad High Court, which restricted the authorities from arresting him.
In March, the former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister flew to the US after his name was removed from the Exit Control List (ECL) following the orders of the Lahore High Court (LHC).
He was allowed to travel abroad for one month, but later filed a new application to extend his stay in the US.
Today, Gill's lawyer Murtaza Toori appeared in the trial court seeking the PTI leader's exemption from the hearing.
Toori filed an application to become a party to the case before Additional Sessions Judge Tahir Abbas Supra, who was presiding over the hearing.
At the start of the hearing, the prosecution, represented by junior counsel for Attorney General Raj Rizwan Abbasi, proposed to the court to revoke Gill's bail.
Defense counsel argued that the duty judge had ordered that the judge in charge announce the verdict on the application for Gill's exemption from the hearing.
At the same time, the prosecution claimed that the duty judge had ordered that the sentence be announced today.
Later, the court revoked Gill's bail and ordered Gill's arrest without bail while announcing a reserved verdict.
The development comes days after a former federal minister registered as a PTI "foreign agent" in the United States.
Gill registered as a foreign agent of the party under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and was issued a registration number by the Department of Justice.
