FILE PHOTO: Matiullah Jan, a journalist and columnist, reacts during an interview with Reuters at his office in Islamabad, Pakistan March 13, 2019. Picture taken March 13, 2019. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo
A Pakistani journalist arrested under anti-terror laws for investigating alleged deaths in protests supporting jailed ex-prime minister Imran Khan was released on bail, his lawyer said.
This week, more than 10,000 marchers flooded Islamabad, defying a ban on public gatherings before being evicted in a sweeping security crackdown.
TV presenter and YouTube journalist Matiullah Jan had been held since late Wednesday when he was probing reports of deaths among the marchers at Islamabad’s PIMS Hospital, his lawyer Imaan Mazari said.
He appeared before a specialist anti-terrorism court in the capital the following day, accused of drug possession and the attempted murder of an on-duty policeman whilst under the influence.
Media rights groups decried his detention as a government bid to suppress the freedom of the press.
Jan was released around 6pm after “his bail was allowed”, Mazari said. “We know there’s a lot of anger from the establishment for his reporting.”
The government said at least five security personnel were killed in this week’s unrest, whilst Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party allege at least 10 of their own were shot dead.
Government ministers have repeatedly denied the allegations.
“There was not one drop of blood and they are calling it a massacre,” Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said.
Successive Pakistan governments have been criticised by rights monitors for using overbroad anti-terrorism legislation to quash dissent.
Jan was also briefly detained by uniformed men in 2020, in the middle of Khan’s four-year tenure. — AFP
