Journalist Waheed Murad granted bail in cybercrime case

The District and Sessions Court on Friday granted bail to journalist Waheed Murad and ordered his release in connection with a cybercrime case.

Murad, who had been under a two-day physical remand, was brought before Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The Islamabad court approved bail in the case filed under the Cyber Crime Act, initially setting a surety bond of Rs50,000. However, after the petitioner requested a reduction, the bond amount was lowered to Rs20,000.

During the proceedings, Judge Shah questioned the FIA about the evidence they had gathered. Lawyer Iman Mazari explained that Murad had encrypted statements by Akhtar Mengal in his post, while Hadi Ali Chattha mentioned that the original tweet alluded to Mengal’s comments.

According to the FIA’s account, Mengal’s post alleged that a genocide of Baloch people was taking place.

Murad, who resides in Islamabad, was initially detained by uniformed personnel on March 26 from his home. On the same day, the FIA presented him to the District and Sessions Court seeking a ten-day physical remand, but the court only allowed a two-day remand.