Journalist Asad Ali Toor was on Friday interrogated for nearly eight hours by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials in connection with allegations of a “malicious campaign” against the superior judiciary in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision to deprive PTI of its iconic ‘bat’ symbol before elections.
Toor’s counsel and human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir posted on social media platform X that the journalist and his legal team left the FIA’s cyber crime wing headquarters at 7pm after his detention at 10:50am.
Separately, a Lahore district court on Friday sent anchorperson Imran Riaz, who was arrested last night, to jail in a corruption case.
Riaz was arrested late last night from his home, with visuals of the arrest going viral on social media. The PTI has decried the arrest and called for Riaz’s immediate release.
Riaz was presented before Judicial Magistrate Imran Abid by the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE). According to the ACE, Riaz and his father have been accused of securing a contract pertaining to Dharabi Lake in Chakwal at an inflated price.
The first information report (FIR) registered against Riaz invoked Sections 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 161 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect to an official act) and 162 (taking gratification, in order by corrupt or illegal means to influence public servant) of the Pakistan Penal Code. It also invoked Section 5(2)47 (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention Of Corruption Act, 1947.
During the hearing, the ACE sought a 14-day physical remand of Riaz.
One of Riaz’s lawyers, Rana Maroof, said that the case filed against his client was against the law and false. He maintained that Riaz’s father never served as a government official.
Maroof argued that Riaz had not caused harm to the national treasury. “Imran Riaz was arrested like a terrorist,” he said. Advocate Azhar Siddique, Riaz’s other lawyer, said that the anti-corruption authorities had neither evidence nor any documents to prove the allegations against his client.
