At least seven journalists and political commentators have been charged with sedition and other crimes in the past week.
Islamabad, Pakistan – Leading rights and media watchdogs have expressed “extreme concern” after several Pakistani journalists and political commentators were charged with sedition earlier this week.
The people include former newspaper editor Shaheen Sehbai, political commentators Wajahat Saeed Khan, Moeed Pirzada, Sabir Shakir, two former army officers turned YouTubers Adil Raja and Syed Haider Raza Mehdi, and another person identified as Syed Akbar Hussain.
Apart from Hussain, whose details have not been provided by the police, the other six people are not currently living in Pakistan.
The charges against the seven are part of a government repression continues about supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan after his dramatic arrest on May 9 in a corruption case.
The arrest caused deadly protests across Pakistan, during which government buildings and military property were vandalized. The government is trying several of the defendants under strict military laws.
A first information report (FIR) filed against Sehbai, Khan, Raja and Mehdi on June 12 by police in the capital Islamabad accuses them of “inciting riot” and inciting people to attack army property on June 9. of May.
Two days later, the Islamabad police filed similar cases against Shakir, Pirzada and Hussain.
“At least seven journalists and commentators have been charged with crimes against the state and anti-terrorism laws in the last four days,” Amnesty International said in a statement on Thursday.
The rights group said it was alarmed by Pakistan’s “crackdown on voices critical of the state and military.”
“The use of these laws to silence commentators and journalists is a violation of the right to freedom of expression,” he posted on Twitter.
Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Without Borders, or RSF) also issued a statement on Wednesday, calling the police complaint against the seven individuals “ridiculous.”
“Make no mistake: the sole purpose of this ridiculous complaint, which arbitrarily associates the names of Wajahat Khan and Shaheen Sehbai with those of the rogue ex-army officers, is to intimidate the two journalists into silence,” said Daniel Bastard, director of Reporters Without Borders. Asia Desk said in a statement.
Last month, several Pakistani journalists came under fire for their criticism of the government’s crackdown on Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
Imran Riaz Khan, a prominent YouTuber with millions of followers, has been missing since May 11. His family blames the state for his disappearance.
Another well-known journalist, Sami Abraham, was detained by unidentified men late last month and held for six days.
Khan’s speeches and statements have been banned from Pakistani television channels since March.
Last month, the country’s media regulator blocked news channels from giving air time to “hate mongers, rioters, their enablers and perpetrators,” an order that did not explicitly name Khan or his party.
Last year, RSF ranked Pakistan 150 out of 180 countries on its press freedom list.
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