Ms Arbab Imran wife of Imran Riaz Khan reacted on his arrestment

The Committee to Protect Journalists stated on Thursday that journalist Imran Riaz Khan must be released right now and that Pakistani authorities must ensure that journalists can work freely and without fear of punishment.

Khan was detained by police on the evening of Tuesday, July 5, outside of Islamabad, the country’s capital, according to news reports and a statement from the Pakistan Press Foundation, a local press freedom organization. Khan is the host of a YouTube channel with more than 3 million members and an anchor for the privately owned television network Express News.

According to those accounts, he was held by police in Attock, in the northern Punjab province, in response to a formal complaint. Khan was reportedly released from jail outside of court on Thursday after being instructed to do so by an Attock judge, according to press sources. But after that, Chawkal police in the Punjabi province detained Khan once more inside the structure.

The frequent detentions of Imran Riaz Khan and the multiple cases that were brought against him, according to CPJ’s program director Carlos Martinez de la Serna, were nothing more than harassment. Authorities must release Khan right away and ensure that journalists can criticize government institutions, including the military, in a free and safe environment.

Khan is a vocal opponent of the Shehbaz Sharif-led administration and an advocate for former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was ousted in April and is not related to the journalist, according to CPJ reporting and The Express Tribune.
In a video he broadcast on his YouTube page on Monday and addressed to Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Khan said that military personnel were threatening him for raising questions about the military’s participation in political activities.

Following a complaint from a guy by the name of Malik Mureed Abbas, who purportedly mentioned an unnamed social media video in which Khan was seen, the Attock police in Islamabad seized Khan the following day.

CPJ was unable to find Abbas’s contact information. According to Khan’s attorney Mian Ali Ashfaq, the journalist was mentioned in 17 different instances throughout Punjab, according to Dawn. When Ashfaq was contacted via a messaging app, he informed CPJ that he couldn’t comment right now.

Following a complaint from a guy by the name of Malik Mureed Abbas, who mentioned an unnamed social media video in which Khan was featured, the Attock police in Islamabad seized Khan.

The contact information for Abbas was not found by CPJ. Mian Ali Ashfaq, Khan’s attorney, claims that the journalist was charged in 17 distinct cases around Punjab. Through a messaging app, Ashfaq let CPJ know that he couldn’t react immediately away.

According to a report released on Wednesday by Dawn, Khan allegedly broke several provisions of the Pakistani penal code as well as the 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. Defamation and the dissemination of words that encouraged public mischief were among these offenses.

According to the penal code, these offenses are punishable by two to seven years in jail and an undisclosed fine. In the Dawn article, it was said that a court had ordered the police not to file any PECA charges.

Leave a Comment

error: Content is protected !!