Journalist Farhan Mallick walks free post bail

WEB DESK: Senior journalist Farhan Mallick who was taken into custody on March 20, has been released following his bail in both cases namely ‘anti-state content’ and ‘fraudulent call centre’.

He was kept in Malir jail and would be going home after receiving the judicial order.

Sessions court on Monday had approved his bail petition in both cases, after which Mallick was to be released. He had been ordered to pay a sum of PKR 100,000 and the cases would now proceed accordingly.

Mallick’s counsel Abdul Moiz Jafferi had maintained that all charges were bogus and was grateful to the support lent on social media by activists and journalist community alike.

Court grants bail to journalist Farhan Mallick in ‘PECA’, fraud cases

A judicial magistrate in Malir on March 26 had granted Mallick’s five-day physical remand of journalist to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with an alleged ‘fraud’ case. This was the second case in less than a week on the senior journalist who was detained on March 20, the first being on ‘anti-state’ content. On March 20, FIA Cyber Crime Reporting Centre Additional Director Shahzad Haider had said that an investigation into Mallick had been under way for around three months. Haider had stated that he had aired “multiple programmes critical of the security establishment.”