CPJ urges PML-N govt to immediately release senior journalist Imran Riaz

Media watchdog says repeated arrests of Express News anchor are pure harassment ‘and must come to an immediate end’

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged the PML-N-led government to immediately release senior journalist and Express News anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan and ensure that members of the press can work freely and without fear of reprisal.

Riaz, the most vocal critic of the ruling coalition, was arrested from Islamabad Toll Plaza late on Tuesday disregarding the fact that a court has already granted him a pre-arrest bail.

Imran Riaz has been implicated in a slew of cases which he says were motivated by his refusal to “stop speaking the truth”.

Police arrested him in response to a complaint filed to authorities in Punjab’s Attock. A court in Attock ordered that he be freed on Thursday, but police from Chawkal rearrested him outside the courtroom immediately after his release.

“The repeated arrests of Pakistani journalist Imran Riaz Khan and the slew of cases registered against him are pure harassment, and must come to an immediate end,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s programme director. “Authorities must immediately release Khan and ensure that journalists can safely and freely comment on state institutions, including the military.”

Attock police arrested Riaz the following day in Islamabad in response to a complaint filed by a man identified as Malik Mureed Abbas, citing an unspecified video on social media that featured him.

Also read: Imran Riaz back in custody after release from Attock police

The CPJ was unable to find any contact information for Abbas. Of late, over a dozen FIRs have been registered against him on charges as serious as abetment of mutiny and criticism of the state institutions.

According to the penal code, those offences can carry prison sentences of two to seven years and an unspecified fine.

On Thursday, a court ordered Imran Riaz to be released, but police immediately re-arrested him as part of an investigation that is “sealed” and the details of which have not been made public.

The CPJ emailed Sarfraz Hussain, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Embassy in Washington, DC, and the Punjab police for comment, but did not receive any replies. The CPJ also contacted Ambreen Jan, director-general of the external publicity wing of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, via messaging app, but did not receive any response.