Case dismissed against anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan

LAHORE: A local court on Friday dismissed the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) case against TV anchor Imran Riaz Khan and ordered his immediate release.

آج کا ہیرو،،، آزادی اظہار رائے کا محافظ،،،، میاں علی اشفاق نےایف آئی اے مقدمے کے چھیتڑے اڑا دئیے pic.twitter.com/0RzBWnCgQx

— Shakir Mehmood Awan (@ShakirAwan88) February 3, 2023

The private TV anchorperson was presented in the court of Judicial Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Virk today amid tight security. He was represented by Advocate Mian Ali Ashfaq.

At the offset of the hearing, the prosecutor requested an extension in the suspect’s physical remand for 14 days. The court reserved the judgement for a while, after which it announced that “case is dismissed.”

میں نے جج صاحب سے کہا کہ میرے ماں کے پاس اور بچے ہیں، ارشد شریف کی ماں کا ایک ہی بیٹا تھا۔۔ صحافی عمران ریاض کی عدالت میں میڈیا سے گفتگو#ImranRiazKhan #arshadsharif pic.twitter.com/fIvHVbvwNe

— Siasat.pk (@siasatpk) February 3, 2023

In its verdict, the Judge Ghulam Murtaza Virk wrote “In these circumstances, I find no justification to accept the request of FIA for physical remand. No incriminating material is available on the file even if the whole FIR is treated as gospel truth as the accused as well as his counsel admitted before the court that they have made the same statement and the same is not false. Hence, the request of investigating officer is turned down and the accused Imran Riaz Khan is here by discharged from this case FIR No.253/2022 offences u/s 11,20,24 of PECA 2016 r/w 131.500,505,109 PPC I’/S FIA/CCRC, Lahore. He be released forthwith, if not required in any other criminal case.”

Case Background:

The anchorperson was arrested from Lahore on Thursday on charges of “hate speech” and making a “violence-inducing statement” aimed at creating “a rift between the general public and the state institutions”. He was taken into custody at the Allama Iqbal Airport from where was trying to go to the UAE. The FIA told him that his name was on the blacklist and he was subsequently handed over to the FIA cybercrime wing which had not produced him before a court of law for physical remand until today.

The FIA registered the first information report under sections 11 (electronic forgery), 20 (malicious code), and 24 (legal recognition of offenses committed in relation to information systems) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Peca) 2016. Likewise, sections 131/109 (incitement to mutiny), 500 (punishment for defamation) and 505 (public mischief) of the Pakistan Penal Code have also been added to the FIR.

According to the FIR — a copy of which is available with Dawn.com — Khan was “found involved in publicly making a hate speech at a conference which falls under the territorial jurisdiction of FIA cyber crime cell”.

The complaint went on to say that the speech was further publicly shared on social media platforms nationally and internationally. The contents of Khan’s speech, as mentioned in the FIR, cast aspersions on former army chief Gen Bajwa’s parting pledge that the military would remain apolitical.