Journalist granted bail

LAHORE: A magisterial court on Sunday granted bail to journalist Rizwan-ur-Rehman Razi, declining the request of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to remand him into its custody for 10 days. He was accused of “uploading defamatory and obnoxious posts” against intelligence agencies, the judiciary and the government institutions. FIA produced Razi before a magisterial court of Asad Sajjad on Sunday as FIA court was not functioning on account of weekly holiday. His lawyer argued that the law enforcement agency had falsely implicated his client and there was no complainant mentioned in the First Information Report (FIR). He added that the accused had given his opinion on a court decision that could not be considered as an attempt to defame state institutions. However, the FIA insisted that Razi’s social media accounts carried stuff that was posted to defame an important institution of the state, i.e. the judiciary. After hearing the two sides, the court granted bail to the journalist on furnishing a surety bond amounting to Rs100,000. The court ruled that offence under Section 123-A (condemnation of the creation of state, and advocacy of abolition of its sovereignty) is not made out against the accused because he had not uttered a single word against the state of Pakistan. However, the rest of offences are bailable under the law and in that case bail was granted to accused as a right, the court order said. Razi is likely to be freed on Monday (today) after submitting the required surety bond in the trial court.