Fakharur Rehman | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A judicial magistrate on Monday granted post-arrest bail to senior journalist Fakharur Rehman, who was arrested over the weekend by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) in a case registered under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca). According to an NCCIA first information report (FIR) dated April 20, the journalist was one of nine accused of spreading “false and misleading information against state institutions” through the social media platform X. The NCCIA had registered the FIR under Section 20 (offences against the dignity of a natural person) and Section 26-A (dissemination of false and fake information) of Peca. During the hearing on Monday, Barrister Ahad Khokhar appeared on behalf of the journalist and argued that, according to the NCCIA report, his client’s mobile phone had already been recovered. He contended that Rehman was a senior citizen who took regular medication. He said that his client had not expressed any personal opinion and had merely shared a state...