New Delhi: The Committee to Protect Journalists, a global body of scribes, has called on Pakistani authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release journalist Imran Riaz Khan, who was arrested in what authorities are claiming is a case of hate speech.
Khan is an anchor at the private television channel BOL News and hosts a popular YouTube channel.
Officers Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency arrested Khan early on Thursday, February 2, at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport, as he was leaving for the United Arab Emirates. He was informed by authorities that his name was “blacklisted” and that he can’t leave the country, BOL News has reported. His luggage was also seized.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists will file a petition against the arrest, on the fact that it goes against a 2022 order by the Islamabad high court that stipulates that the FIA cybercrime wing director has to coordinate with journalists’ bodies before to initiating punitive action against journalists.
Khan is being investigated under the 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act – which is often decried by rights organisations and the CPJ for cracking down on dissent – and other sections of Pakistan’s penal code.
The first information report against Khan alleges that his “hate speech” at a January 30 seminar on violence against journalists in Pakistan aimed at creating a “rift between the general public and the state institutions”. CPJ noted in its press release that in that speech, Khan had questioned former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa.
This is not the first time that a journalist has been held for commenting against Bajwa. On January 13, FIA officers arrested journalist Shahid Aslam, alleging he was involved in coverage related to the assets of Bajwa and his family, and kept him imprisoned for five days before releasing him.
This is also not the first time that Khan has been arrested. Police previously detained Khan from July 5 to 9, 2022, after a slew of cases were registered against him and in July 14, they took him off a Dubai-bound flight, CPJ said.
“Authorities must allow journalists to freely comment on state institutions, including the military. Arresting journalists for their commentary or reporting smacks of a desperate attempt to silence criticism,” Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia programme coordinator has said.