Karachi court approves Iqrarul Hassan's bail plea

Orders his release against surety bonds of Rs200,000, forensic report awaited

KARACHI:

Karachi's city court on Saturday approved the bail application of media personality Iqrarul Hassan, ordering his release against surety bonds of Rs200,000 in a case of harming the state and national integrity through the dissemination of anti-state content on his social media platforms.

On October 13, Hassan was handed over to the NCCIA on a four-day physical remand. On October 15, the District and Sessions Court East dismissed a petition challenging Hassan's physical remand, with the defence counsel questioning the legality of the proceedings and arguing that the case concerned digital and cyber matters. A day later, his physical remand was extended by two days.

According to Advocate Ahmad Masood, the charge sheet had been submitted against Hassan while his mobile devices were taken into custody.

Meanwhile, the NCCIA noted that no further investigation was required against Hassan; however, the forensic report was still awaited.

According to the FIR, Hassan, "through his personal social media accounts on the platforms X, Instagram and Facebook, is intentionally disseminating false, fabricated, anti-state and defamatory content with the object of instigating the general public against the state, its institutions and its functionaries."

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The FIR stated that the content of Hassan's social media posts portrayed the state, its institutions and its functionaries "in a false and distorted manner."

It also noted that Hassan "represented lawful measures as controversial with the intent to instigate and incite the general public at large against the state and the lawfully constituted authorities."

The FIR stated further, "The accused instigated a substantial following, including the general public, on the aforesaid platforms," adding that the content that he posted was published and broadcast "in an open, publicly accessible manner, without restriction, so as to reach and influence the public at large throughout Pakistan and abroad."

Hassan's wife Farah Iqrar told The Express Tribune on October 12 that a group of unidentified individuals posing as officials of the NCCIA had allegedly taken him away from their residence in Lahore’s Defence C area.

According to Farah, between five and seven people, including women, arrived at the house late on Sunday night, during the intervening hours of Sunday and Monday, and demanded that Hassan come outside. She alleged that the individuals threatened to break down the door if he was not handed over. They subsequently entered the house, forcibly took the journalist from a room and took him away.