Skip to main content

Journalist Asad Toor remanded in FIA custody for 5 days in case pertaining to online campaign against judiciary

An Islamabad district and session court on Tuesday granted the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) five-day remand of journalist Asad Ali Toor in a case pertaining to an online campaign against the judiciary.

In January, the car­e­taker government had formed a five-member joint investigation team (JIT) to “ascertain facts behind a malicious social media campaign” against the judiciary in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to deprive PTI of its iconic ‘bat’ symbol.

Last week, Toor was interrogated for nearly eight hours by FIA officials on the same matter. The interrogation had taken place despite the attorney general for Pakistan assuring the apex court last month that the FIA would not take action before the general election on the notices sent to journalists. The apex court had adjourned the hearing in the case till the first week of March.

Last night, Toor’s legal team confirmed that he had been arrested by the agency. Toor’s counsel Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir said the journalist had arrived at the FIA’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad earlier in the day to “demonstrate his positive intent, answer a summons notice issued to him on Saturday and join the inquiry about the campaign against the judiciary”.

She said the team went to the FIA office after acquiring an order from the Islamabad High Court, which instructed the agency to not harass the journalist but he was still taken inside the FIA premises without his legal team.

She said an FIA official came out of the building, delivered the legal team a handwritten note from Toor and said that the journalist was “formally arrested”. The letter seen by Dawn.com contained various instructions from the journalist for his family.

Today, Toor was presented before Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Shabbir. During the hearing, the FIA sought the journalist’s physical remand.

Subsequently, the court accepted the requested and remanded Toor in FIA’s custody for for five days.

Arrest condemned

Reacting to Toor’s arrest, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it was “seriously concerned by the news”.

“He should be released immediately and any curbs on freedom of expression removed promptly,” the HRCP said.

Human rights lawyer and Toor’s counsel Imaan Zainab-Mazari-Hazir said in a post on X, “Asad standing tall despite his unlawful arrest.”

Former PPP leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar termed the arrest “another blow for freedom of expression”.

“Before judiciary goes out on a witch hunt perhaps they should take a moment out to reflect on their own shortcomings. Their record has never been anything to write home about!” he said.

In a statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) called on authorities to “immediately and unconditionally release Toor, and to cease harassing him for his journalistic work”.



from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/TGwtV96

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani skipping home run derby

Baseball’s biggest star is skipping the home run derby. Shohei Ohtani confirmed after Tuesday’s win over the Diamondbacks that he will not be participating as he continues to rehab an elbow injury that has prevented him from pitching this season. “There’s been some conversations going on,” Ohtani said, according to Juan Toribio of MLB.com . “I’m in the middle of my rehab progression, so it’s not going to look like I’ll be participating.” Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani and the club reached the decision together. Ohtani signed a historic 10-year, $700-million contract with the Dodgers after winning his second AL MVP award last season with the Angels. Despite his elbow injury, he has served as the Dodgers’ primary DH this season and been one of the most productive hitters in baseball. Ohtani entered Tuesday hitting .316/.399/.635 with a 1.034 OPS. He hit his NL-leading 27th home run in the win. Ohtani had previously participated in the Derby in 2021. Last season’s champion, Vlad...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pakistan flag installed at UNSC as country becomes non-permanent member for 8th time

The Pakistani national flag was installed in front of the United Nations Security Council chamber, as the country began its eighth term as a non-permanent member (2025-26) of the 15-member body, according to a press release issued by the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations on Thursday. Pakistan on Wednesday began a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Elected in June to replace Japan, Pakistan now occupies one of the two Asia-Pacific seats on the UNSC. It will preside over the council in July, a key opportunity to set the agenda and foster dialogue. View this post on Instagram This marks Pakistan’s eighth term on the council, providing an opportunity to shape discussions on pivotal international issues, but also posing significant challenges. “As part of the joining ceremony, flags of the five new incoming non-permanent members — Pakistan, Denmark, Greece, Panam...
Post a Comment
Read more

Heathrow resumes operations as global airlines scramble after shutdown

London’s Heathrow Airport resumed full operations on Saturday, a day after a fire knocked out its power supply and shut Europe’s busiest airport, causing global travel chaos. The travel industry was scrambling to reroute passengers and fix battered airline schedules after the huge fire at an electrical substation serving the airport. Some flights had resumed on Friday evening, but the shuttering of the world’s fifth-busiest airport for most of the day left tens of thousands searching for scarce hotel rooms and replacement seats while airlines tried to return jets and crew to bases. Teams were working across the airport to support passengers affected by the outage, a Heathrow spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “We have hundreds of additional colleagues on hand in our terminals and we have added flights to today’s schedule to facilitate an extra 10,000 passengers travelling through the airport,” the spokesperson said. The travel industry, facing the prospect of a financial ...
Post a Comment
Read more