Pakistan: Reporters Without Borders calls for annulment of contempt proceedings against journalists

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Wednesday called for the annulment of the Islamabad High Court judicial inquiry for contempt proceedings against two journalists for having published the affidavit of a former judge highlighting a suspect influencing peddling case.

The Paris-based NGO RSF said that the proceeding against two journalists from the daily The News International as well as its owner violates the fundamental principles of the rule of law in Pakistan, reported The News International.

In a statement issued by the RSF, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific office Daniel Bastard said, the RSF called on the Chief Justice Islamabad High Court, Justice Athar Minallah to rise to the occasion by immediately lifting the charges against the members of the team of The News International.

"I checked my sources," said investigative journalist Ansar Abbasi, during an interview by RSF. His ethical requirements were however ignored in the decision, pronounced this Tuesday, December 28, by the Chief Justice of the High Court of Islamabad.

Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court decided to open legal proceedings for "contempt of court" against Ansar Abbasi, an investigator for the daily The News International, its Editor, Amir Ghauri, and Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, owner of the Jang Media Group, which publishes the newspaper, reported The News International.

Ansar Abbasi simply filed an article, published on November 15, in which he revealed a statement taken under oath by a former Chief Judge of Gilgit-Baltistan, Rana Shamim.

The latter claims to have heard the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Mian Saqib Nisar, pressure one of his colleagues not to grant bail to several leaders of the opposition party, the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML- N) before the 2018 general elections. "The information revealed by Ansar Abbasi and The News International sheds light on issues of public interest absolutely fundamental to the rule of law in Pakistan," noted the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific office, Daniel Bastard.

The RSF statement while quoting daily Dawn further said that Ansar Abbasi attested, during the hearing on Tuesday, having fully verified the veracity of his information and his sources, "Rana Shamim himself also [sent me a message] to tell me that what I had read was correct."

The paper's editor, Amir Ghauri is also being prosecuted in the contempt proceedings. The third personality implicated in this case, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, who has already spent eight months in prison, before being finally released on bail in November 2020.

Pakistan occupies 145th place out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index published in 2021 by RSF.

( With inputs from ANI )

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