A Karachi district court dismissed the bail application of journalist Farhan Mallick on Friday in a case pertaining to running allegedly “anti-state” content on his outlet’s YouTube channel.
Mallick, the founder of media agency Raftar and a former news director at Samaa TV, was arrested on March 20 in Karachi and booked under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) as well as the Pakistan Penal Code. The next day, he was handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) custody for four days.
During the previous proceeding, Judicial Magistrate Yusra Ashfaq reserved her order on the post-arrest bail application of the journalist. She also summoned an additional director of the FIA for failing to comply with the court order regarding Mallick’s jail custody.
Today’s hearing was held inside Courtroom 14 of City Court District East. The journalist’s lawyers were expecting his bail application to be accepted. However, after waiting for more than three hours, Judge Yusra dismissed the plea. A detailed order will be issued tomorrow (Saturday).
During the proceedings, the director of FIA also appeared in court, entering from the rear entrance. He was ordered to prepare an internal inquiry report on the non-compliance with court orders and submit it within 15 days.
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