The ARY news channel, which had earlier appealed against the decision by a British court to broadcast a summary of a legal judgement against it, lost the appeal on Thursday.

ARY's initial appeal was also turned down, following which the channel lodged an appeal in the appeals court.

Read: UK judge orders ARY to air summary of judgement in defamation case

At a legal hearing in London earlier this week, Judge Sir David Eady ruled that the summary should be broadcast on Dec 23 (Friday) at 6pm, 10pm and 3am in the first five minutes of each hour. The words will have to be displayed on the screen as well as being read out.

The ARY will have to say in Urdu: “On Dec 2, 2016, the High Court of Justice ordered the UK broadcaster of ARY News... to pay £185,000 in libel damages to Mir Shakilur Rehman, the Editor-in-Chief of Jang/Geo Group, in relation to seriously defamatory allegations broadcast in 24 programmes which the judge said simply had no foundation.

The court held that the broadcasts were unrelenting and calculated to arouse hatred towards Mir Shakilur Rehman (and indeed quite possibly violence) among members of the Pakistani community in this jurisdiction.”

The channel must also broadcast that there was no evidence to support the claims and that during the trial, ARY Network made it clear they did not suggest that any of the allegations were true.

Lawyers for Mir Shakilur Rehman identified ARY programmes in which he had been libeled between 2013 and 2014. The broadcasts included repeated claims that he was a traitor to Pakistan who had conspired with Indian intelligence agencies and the CIA to publish fabricated stories maligning Pakistan’s armed forces.

The channel said Mir Shakilur Rehman should have no right to live in Pakistan and that his company should be stripped of its broadcasting licence. ARY even accused him of blasphemy and of desecrating the Holy Quran.

The ARY has also been told it must not repeat any of the allegations. It has been restrained from broadcasting anything saying Mir Shakilur Rehman is a traitor, or is disloyal to Pakistan, or has behaved treacherously, or has committed treason or that he is guilty of blasphemy, or desecration of the holy Quran.

Opinion

Editorial

Ultimate price
Updated 02 Nov, 2024

Ultimate price

To dismantle culture of impunity for crimes against journalists, state must ensure that perpetrators do not go unpunished.
Mastung bombing
02 Nov, 2024

Mastung bombing

INSTABILITY continues to haunt Balochistan, as Friday morning’s bombing in Mastung has shown. At least nine...
Plane speak
02 Nov, 2024

Plane speak

DESPITE all its efforts to facilitate PIA’s privatisation, it seems the government only ended up being taken for a...
Seeking investment
Updated 01 Nov, 2024

Seeking investment

Foreign visits will be fruitless unless crucial structural, policy reforms directly affecting investors are focused.
State-backed terror
01 Nov, 2024

State-backed terror

OVER the past year or so, India’s reportedly malign activities in foreign countries have increasingly come under the radar, with
Shared crisis
01 Nov, 2024

Shared crisis

WITH Lahore experiencing unprecedented levels of smog, the Punjab government has announced a series of “green...