KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Tuesday sent journalist Farhan Mallick to prison on judicial remand in a case pertaining to the alleged “anti-state” content uploaded on his YouTube channel, Raftar.

A number of journalists, including Azhar Abbas, Rafat Saeed, Shahzad Iqbal and Tariq Mateen, along with members of civil society, were present in court to support Mr Mallick, the founder of the Raftar Media Agency and a former news director at Samaa TV.

On Tuesday, the investigation officer (IO) Zeeshan Awan brought Mr Mallick before Judicial Magistrate (East) Khalique Zaman, after the expiry of his four-day physical custody and sought extension for further interrogation.

At the outset of the hearing, the IO submitted the remand paper, stating that a search of Mr Mallick’s office was conducted in the presence of witnesses during which the FIA seized several electronic devices.

The IO claimed the suspect did not provide password to unlock the recovered electronic devices, pointing out that the investigation was still incomplete and Mr Mallick’s custody till April 3 was needed to investigate the modus operandi.

The defence counsel, Abdul Moiz Jafferii, said an application was filed at the last hearing to discharge the journalist from the case under Section 63 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, arguing that the case did not hold any ground. He claimed that the inquiry had begun more than four months back.

He said the allegations are arbitrary — while it claimed that his client was involved in “anti-state” activities; however, there is no clear definition of what those activities are, he questioned.

The court asked Mr Mallick whether the FIA had maltreated him, to which he replied that while he had not been personally mistreated, his staff was being harassed as FIA would allegedly implicate his staff in abetment charges.

After hearing both sides, the court rejected the IO’s request for an extension of physical custody and sent the journalist to Landhi jail on judicial remand and directed the IO to submit the investigation report under Section 173 of the CrPC within the stipulated period.

Meanwhile, the court also issued notices to the prosecution for Thursday regarding the post-arrest bail application of Mr Mallick.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2025