FIA to physically remand journalist Asad Toor for five days

Islamabad: The journalist Asad Ali Toor has been handed over to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on five-day physical remand.

After the arrest, Asad Ali Toor was produced in the District and Sessions Court of Islamabad, where the court handed him over to the FIA for five days in the case of running anti-judiciary campaign on social media.

The journalist was produced before Magistrate Mohammad Shabbir who also allowed Toor to meet his legal team for an hour.

During the hearing, Asad told the court that he is a journalist and cannot give his mobile phone, adding that “I twice appeared before FIA, my lawyer stated that he received the notice on February 24,”.

Ali Toor stated that he approached the High Court against the notice, and reached the FIA office with the order of high court's order stating to investigate about the First Information Report (FIR) and the allegations filed against him.

According to the text of the FIR, Asad allegedly conducted a hateful campaign against the judiciary of Pakistan on social media platforms YouTube and X (Twitter).

The FIR added that the journalist has been involved in the anti-state activities using social media platforms, therefore a case has been filed against him under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has expressed concern over the arrest of journalist Asad Ali and demanded his immediate release.