A Rawalpindi court on Friday gave the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) a seven -day physical return of the engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza Jehlami, a controversial religious scholar, in a case of high profile blasphemy.
According to Express News, the superior civil judge Waqar Hussain Gondal granted the return after the FIA produced the accused under strict security in the Rawalpindi district courts.
The Court ordered the FIA to complete the interrogation and present the defendant again on September 19. After the order of the court, the FIA team left with the defendant to continue his investigation.
Mirza was initially arrested last month by the Jhelum police under section 3 of the maintenance of public order (MPO). He was later transferred to jail before being delivered to the FIA after registering a blasphemy case.
Read too: The maintenance of the wife is not linked to Rukhsati: SC
The FIR, filed at the Jhelum City Police Station, alleges that a video that circulates online, originally published on the Mirza YouTube channel, contains blasphemous comments about the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and a misinterpretation of Surah al-Nisa. The plaintiff states that the video is offensive and in violation of the strict Blasphemia laws of Pakistan.
The case includes charges under section 295-C of the Pakistan Criminal Code (PPC), which requires the death penalty for contaminating the name of the prophet (PBUH) and section 11 of the prevention of the Act of Electronic Crimes (PCA) 2016, which is directed to the incitement of content or sectarian hate or interfiel.
Section 295-C of the PPC establishes that “whoever is spoken or written, or by visible representation, or for imputation, insinuations or insinuation, directly or indirectly, contaminates the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (La Paz either with him) will be punished with death and will be responsible for things.”
Section 11 of Peca belongs to the preparation and propagation of any information through any vertical that motivates interreligious, sectarian or racial hatred will be punished with imprisonment for a period of up to seven years and also a fine.
Read: Decline meat sales in the middle of the donkey meat scam
Mirza is a well -known online figure with more than three million youtube subscribers. He also directs the Coran-O-Sunnat Research Academy in Jhelum, which has now been sealed by local authorities. No official reason for move has been provided.
This is not the first time Mirza faces such accusations. In May 2020, when he was accused about accusations of making derogatory comments about other religious scholars. He was later released on bail.
He was accused of blasphemy in 2023 about the comments about the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his perceived position on the Ahmadi community. Those charges were ultimately removed.
Blasphemy remains one of the most sensitive and controversial issues in Pakistan, and human rights organizations regularly urge the government to avoid the exploitation of these laws to obtain personal or political profits.
