Shahid Aslam was arrested final week over report on alleged wealth of Normal Qamar Javed Bajwa, the previous military chief, and his household.
Islamabad, Pakistan – A court docket in Islamabad has ordered the discharge of journalist Shahid Aslam on bail in a case associated to the alleged leak of tax knowledge for former military chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and his household.
Aslam, a reporter with Bol Information, was arrested final week within the japanese metropolis of Lahore by the Federal Investigation Company, after which he was moved to Islamabad.
Aslam was charged with sharing data concerning private tax particulars of Normal Bajwa and his household with the information web site FactFocus, which revealed it in November, days earlier than the military chief’s retirement.
Aslam denied that he was behind the leak.
The FactFocus report accused Bajwa and his household of amassing belongings price almost $52m and introduced official tax information and wealth statements to substantiate the allegations.
Aslam’s arrest was condemned by media and civil rights teams, who accused the federal government of pressuring the media into silence. The Committee to Defend Journalists criticised the arrest.
“The arrest of reporter Shahid Aslam underscores the harmful setting for journalists in Pakistan,” Beh Lih Yi, its Asia programme coordinator, mentioned in an announcement.
“Authorities should instantly and unconditionally launch Aslam and respect his proper to privateness and the confidentiality of his sources as assured below the nation’s journalist security legislation,” she mentioned.
The Human Rights Fee of Pakistan mentioned the arrest not solely restricted Aslam’s freedom of expression, however “such ways set the harmful precedent of obstructing the work of investigative journalists”.
This month, Human Rights Watch warned, “Area without cost expression and dissent in Pakistan is quickly shrinking.”
“Pakistan’s politicians are locked in an influence wrestle through which a free media and vibrant civil society are the casualties,” it mentioned.
Pakistan was ranked 157 out of 180 nations on the 2022 press freedom index, revealed yearly by Reporters With out Borders. It represented a decline of 12 positions from the 2021 rankings.
Islamabad-based lawyer Aftab Alam, an knowledgeable on media legal guidelines, mentioned, “Sedition legal guidelines in different nations are being eliminated, however we nonetheless use it.”
“This can be a legacy of colonial-era legal guidelines, and repeatedly we have now seen their utilization within the identify of nationwide pursuits or to forestall so-called pretend information,” he instructed Al Jazeera.
“These actions by authorities are a solution to management the plenty,” he mentioned. “Our legal guidelines require reforms.”
