Pakistani journalist charged with disinformation after home raid

Islamabad: A Pakistani journalist was charged on Wednesday with spreading disinformation online hours after his family reported he was seized in an overnight raid on his home.

Muhammad Waheed Murad, a multimedia journalist for Saudi-owned Urdu News, is the second reporter in recent days to come up against Pakistan’s strengthened laws targeting online content.

Murad is facing several charges including committing “cyber terrorism” and spreading “false and fake information”.

A judge ordered he be remanded in custody for two days, an AFP journalist at the Islamabad court reported.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), which deals with cybercrime, had requested the journalist be held for 10 days.

The charge sheet seen by AFP accused Murad of glorifying a deadly attack on a train carried out by militants in Balochistan province.

Murad was detained at around 2am when more than a dozen people stormed his home, his mother-in-law Abida Nawaz said in a video.

His arrest follows the detention Thursday of Farhan Mallick, founder of Pakistani internet media channel Raftar, who is facing charges of “anti-state posts and fake news”.

The FIA charge sheet against Murad mentions he shared Noorani’s content on his social media accounts, which is “likely to cause fear, panic, unrest and disorder in the general public”.

The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists earlier Wednesday condemned what it called an “enforced abduction” of the reporter.

“Such actions against journalists are unacceptable and threaten the very fabric of democracy and press freedom,” the group said in a statement.

The criminalisation of online disinformation has spread fear in Pakistan, with journalists among those worried about the potentially wide reach of the law.