Journalist remanded into FIA custody under cybercrime laws

By Mustafa Ali

ISLAMABAD  –  A local court on Wednesday re­manded journalist Waheed Murad into the custody of the Federal In­vestigation Agency (FIA) after he was charged under the country’s cybercrime laws.

Judge Muhammad Abbas Shah granted two-day physical remand of the accused following he was produced before the court by the FIA.

The accused has been charged of allegedly sharing “intimidating content” on social media, and dis­seminating “fake, false, misleading and misinterpreted information leading to hatred against the gov­ernment functionaries.”

Murad, associated with the Ar­ab-based Urdu News website, was picked up by unknown people in plain clothes with faces covered with masks from his home in Sec­tor G-8 of Islamabad on Tuesday midnight, the family members of the journalist claimed.

Later, it emerged that the Cyber Crime Reporting Centre of the FIA booked Murad under various sec­tions of the Prevention of Elec­tronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016.

According to the first informa­tion report (FIR), the accused shared false information about the Jaffar Express hijacking in­cident and questioned the au­thority of the government in Ba­lochistan.

He is also charged of sharing a report of a news website, which is banned in Pakistan.

The journalist shared the re­port including the pictures of the family members of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir along with highly intimidating re­marks, violating their privacy, the FIR said.

Earlier in the day, the family of Murad filed a petition before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for his recovery, saying that he was “forcibly disappeared by un­known persons.”