Malicious campaign against SC: Youtuber Asad Ali Toor arrested

ISLAMABAD: Blogger and YouTuber Asad Ali Toor was arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with an investigation into a malicious campaign against Supreme Court judges including Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.

Human rights lawyer and Toor’s counsel Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir confirmed his arrest.

She said Asad Ali Toor had arrived at the FIA’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad earlier in the day to “demonstrate his positive intent, answer a summons notice issued to him on Saturday and join the inquiry about the campaign against the judiciary”.

She said the team went to the FIA office after acquiring an order from the Islamabad High Court, which instructed the agency to not harass Toor but he was still taken inside the FIA premises without his legal team.

Imran Riaz, Asad Toor summoned over alleged malicious campaign against CJP

She said the FIA officials kept Toor in custody till about 9pm and thereafter they then sent a handwritten note that he had written to me, giving some instructions and his car keys, mentioning that he’s (Asad Ali Toor) been arrested.

Mazari blamed his arrest on the high court’s failure to “protect fundamental rights”.

Last month, the caretaker government had constituted a six-member high-powered Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to inquire into the malicious campaign launched against judges of the top court after the CJP Isa-led bench announced the verdict on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) intra-party polls.

The FIA had launched over 115 inquiries, sent over 65 notices to at least 46 individuals — including bloggers such as Toor — and registered an FIR.

Prominent in the list were journalists Shaheen Sehbai, Sabir Shakir, Matiullah Jan, Cyril Almeida, Saqib Bashir, Riazul Haq, Syed Haider Raza Mehdi, Asad Ali Toor, Arif Hameed Bhatti, Siddique Jan and others.