The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Saturday called for the immediate release of a Pakistani journalist who was arrested for allegedly making “defamatory and obnoxious” posts on social media.
Rizwan-ur-Rehman Razi, TV host for Urdu-language news station Din News, was arrested from his home in Lahore on Saturday morning, according to a statement published on the CPJ website.
In the statement, CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Steven Butler said: “Expressing opinions, even critical opinions, should not be a crime, in Pakistan or anywhere. Justice - and Pakistan's constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press - can only be served by Rizwan Razi's immediate release."
Pakistan Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry confirmed that Razi had been arrested for posts that allegedly violated the country’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, the statement added.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) of the case against Razi, which was obtained by CPJ, Razi had put up “defamatory and obnoxious posts” on his Twitter account against the "judiciary, government institutions and intelligence agencies" of Pakistan.
The FIR further said that Razi had "confessed" to uploading the posts, apologized and promised to refrain from posting similar material in the future. The agency also said it had seized and searched Razi's mobile phone.
Although it is unclear what specifically led to the arrest, Razi had criticized extrajudicial killings allegedly by the Pakistan Army in Punjab earlier this month, according to screenshots of his twitter posts provided to the CPJ.
Razi’s son Osama Razi told CPJ his father had been beaten before being taken away in a black car around 10:30am on Saturday.
