News anchor Rehan Tariq. Photo: Archive
A Lahore magistrate court on Wednesday granted the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) a six-day physical remand for podcaster Rehan Tariq, who was arrested in a case registered under blasphemy and cyber crime laws.
Judicial Magistrate Naeem Wattoo handed over the suspect to the investigation team for six days and ordered the agency to produce him again before the court upon completion of remand. The court also asked for a progress report at the next hearing.
According to the prosecution, the case was registered following the complaint of Cyber Crime Deputy Director Rizwan Sabir under various provisions including section 295-A (insults to religious beliefs) of the Pakistan Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).
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The investigation team informed the magistrate that Tariq had been detained by officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and NCCIA upon his arrival at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport last night from the United Kingdom.
He said his name had already been included on the no-fly list, so he was detained at the airport.
Investigators further stated that written complaints had been received from religious groups about allegedly controversial podcast content, including an interview with religious scholar Jawad Naqvi.
They requested a one-week physical remand, arguing that additional time was needed to investigate the matter, examine Tariq’s digital accounts, seize his mobile phone, and recover the original recordings of the podcast and related digital data.
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After hearing from the prosecution, the court approved a six-day physical pretrial detention instead of the seven days requested by investigators.
Before being produced before the court under tight security, Tariq and some of his followers raised “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans as he alighted from the police vehicle at the district courts.
