Pakistan court orders release of news executive facing sedition charges

ISLAMABAD

A court in Pakistan on Thursday ordered the release of a news channel executive facing sedition charges.

Ammad Yousaf, head of news for local broadcaster ARY News, was arrested in the southern port city of Karachi a day earlier.

The charges he faced were in connection with comments made by Shahbaz Gill, an adviser to former Prime Minister Imran Khan, and aired on ARY News on Monday night.

Gill was apprehended in Islamabad the next day, followed by Yousaf’s arrest in Karachi in the early hours of Wednesday.

Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Wednesday that Gill and ARY News would face sedition charges for remarks that aimed to incite mutiny within Pakistan’s powerful military.

According to ARY News, another case with sedition charges has been registered against three other journalists and the channel’s owner Salman Iqbal.

Pakistan’s state-run media regulator also ordered ARY News to be taken off air for what it said was “highly hateful and seditious” content.

The Sindh High Court, however, has directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and cable operators to restore the channel’s transmission.

Gill claimed in his ARY News appearance that there were attempts to dissuade the middle and lower ranks of the army from supporting Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

He said the junior ranks and their families were strong PTI supporters, insinuating that they were being pressured by military high-ups.

Gill advised military personnel to reassess whether they should follow directives that were against their personal values and the “sentiments of the masses.”

Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in March, lashed out at the government in a video message on Wednesday, saying Gill’s arrest and accusations of anti-military actions by the PTI were part of an attempt to ban his party.