AI urges immediate release of critical Twitterati

Global rights organisation, the Amnesty International, urged the Pakistan authorities on Friday to Immediately release eight people, who were arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Punjab over their critical tweets.

Dinushika Dissanayake, the Amnesty’s South Asia Research Director, said that Pakistani authorities must stop using the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) to punish people who were simply exercising their right to freedom of expression online.

“For far too long, successive governments have used this law [PECA] as a tool to crush peaceful dissent and intimidate supporters of political opposition,” Dissanayake said in a statement, posted on Amnesty’s website late on Thursday.

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“Nobody should be arrested merely for expressing their views — whether online or offline,” Dissanayake added. “Instead of stepping up their efforts to quash dissenting voices, the Pakistani authorities should end their repressive crackdown on right to freedom of expression.”

According to the statement, the FIA arrested eight people across Punjab on Thursday, following a crackdown on social media activists, whom the agency believed were involved in a smear campaign against state institutions.