Court approves journalist Waheed Murad's bail plea

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad court has granted bail to journalist Waheed Murad, who had been taken into custody by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) earlier this week on allegations of cyber terrorism and promoting criminal acts.

Judicial Magistrate Abbas Shah ordered the release of the journalist on bail after the FIA presented him in the court on completion of his two-day physical remand.

Initially, the court had set surety bonds at Rs50,000, however, Murad's plea for a reduction was accepted, and the amount was lowered to Rs20,000.

Murad had been taken into custody on Tuesday night from his residence where his mother-in-law was also residing after being named in an FIA case related to spreading fake news.

His wife initially reported that masked men in black uniforms forcibly entered their house at around 2am and whisked him away in a black "dala", alleging him of being an Afghan.

Later, a petition was filed for the missing journalist's recovery via Advocates Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha. The interior secretary, defence secretary, Islamabad inspector general of police, and the station house officer (SHO) of Karachi Company police station had been named as respondents in the plea.

The FIA registered a case against the journalist under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). The sections include 9 (glorification of an offence), 10 (cyber terrorism), 20 (malicious code), and 26. The court had remanded him to the FIA custody for two-days after the agency produced him after the arrest.

The prosecution argued that Murad had shared a post related to a banned organisation in Balochistan and that further investigation was required regarding his social media accounts. They also requested the recovery of his mobile phone.