Pakistan: Journalist Khalid Jamil Gets Bail

A local court in Islamabad made a significant decision on Thursday by granting bail to journalist Khalid Jamil in connection with a case involving the dissemination of what was described as a “provocative narrative against state institutions through social media platforms,” as reported by Pakistan media outlet.

Special Judge Central Shahrukh Arjumand extended bail to Khalid Jamil upon the submission of a surety bond amounting to Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 50,000. Khalid Jamil, who serves as the bureau chief of a private news channel, had previously been taken into custody at his residence in Islamabad.

Earlier, on Sunday, another local court in Islamabad had ordered journalist Muhammad Khalid Jamil to be placed under a 14-day judicial remand over similar allegations of propagating a “provocative narrative against state institutions through social media platforms,” as per report by Pakistan media outlet. Subsequently, the journalist contested his arrest.

On the preceding Friday, an Islamabad district and sessions court had remanded journalist Muhammad Khalid Jamil into the custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for a two-day period, a development reported by Pakistan-based Dawn.

The FIA’s allegations against Khalid Jamil centered on his purported dissemination of a “provocative narrative” against state institutions via social media posts, as noted in the Dawn report. The first information report (FIR) filed by the agency stated that the accused was “found sharing and propagating highly intimidating content/tweets on social media/Twitter” (now X), as further reported by Dawn.

The FIR invoked Section 20 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), which outlines penalties for intentionally spreading false information that harms an individual’s reputation or privacy via an information system. According to Dawn, the penalty for this offense may include imprisonment for up to two years or a fine of up to one million rupees, or both.

Furthermore, the FIR incorporated Section 505 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with statements that may lead to public mischief. According to Dawn, the FIR asserted that the accused had intentionally misrepresented and disseminated an anti-state narrative through false, misleading, and unsubstantiated information, potentially inciting fear and offenses against the state, state institutions, or public peace.

The FIA contended that individuals, including Muhammad Khalid Jamil, had propagated, promoted, and glorified anti-state, provocative, and hate-filled narratives against state institutions, Dawn reported. However, the agency did not disclose details regarding other individuals implicated in the alleged offense.

The FIA characterized such intimidating content disseminated through social media accounts as a subversive and mischievous act aimed at creating divisions between the general public and state institutions, with the intention to “harm the state of Pakistan.”

Moreover, the agency argued that the accused, through such intimidating content, including videos, had attempted to incite the general public against state institutions, including the judiciary, fostering ill-will among the pillars of the state, as reported by Dawn.

The arrest of Khalid Jamil had drawn criticism from the journalist community.

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