An Islamabad district and session court on Tuesday granted the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) five-day remand of journalist Asad Ali Toor in a case pertaining to an online campaign against the judiciary.
In January, the interim government established a five-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to “investigate the origins of a defamatory social media campaign” against the judiciary following the Supreme Court’s decision to strip PTI of its emblematic ‘bat’ symbol.
Last week, Toor underwent nearly eight hours of interrogation by FIA officials regarding the same issue. Despite the Attorney General for Pakistan’s assurance to the apex court last month that FIA action on notices sent to journalists would be deferred until after the general election, the interrogation proceeded. The apex court had postponed the case’s hearing until the first week of March.
Last night, Toor’s legal representatives confirmed his arrest by the agency. Toor’s attorney, Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, stated that the journalist had visited the FIA’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad earlier that day to demonstrate his cooperation, respond to a summons issued to him on Saturday, and participate in the investigation concerning the campaign against the judiciary.
Mazari-Hazir mentioned that despite obtaining an order from the Islamabad High Court directing the agency not to harass the journalist, Toor was still taken into the FIA premises without his legal team. An FIA official emerged from the building, handed Toor’s legal team a handwritten note from the journalist, and informed them that Toor had been “officially arrested.” The note contained various instructions from Toor for his family, as observed by Dawn.com.
Today, Toor appeared before Judicial Magistrate Mohammad Shabbir. During the hearing, the FIA requested the journalist’s physical custody.
Consequently, the court granted the request and remanded Toor into FIA custody for five days.
