LAHORE: The Lahore District Court (LDC) on Thursday granted a four-day physical remand of journalist Sohrab Barakat to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) in a case stemming from remarks made by activist Sanam Javaid during an interview aired on a private TV channel.
Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Naeem Wattoo heard the case. According to the FIR, Barakat hosted the interview with Javaid. However, his counsel argued that Barakat neither owns the YouTube channel “Politics Drop PK” nor made any contentious remarks himself. The channel, the lawyer said, is operated by an individual named Adeel, while all comments broadcast belonged solely to Sanam Javaid.
The defence further informed the court that Barakat had been scheduled to travel abroad from November 10–12 for a conference but was stopped by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) at the airport.
After the matter was taken to court, the FIA confirmed before an Islamabad court that Barakat was not wanted in any case. Despite this, he was re-arrested at Islamabad airport the following night, without any transit remand produced by the NCCIA.
The lawyer maintained that Barakat and the channel had not uploaded the content themselves, and those responsible for the remarks had already been detained, while the channel that aired the interview remained operational. He requested Barakat’s discharge from the case.
During a habeas corpus hearing in Islamabad, Barakat stated that investigators had already obtained remand, while the NCCIA investigation officer argued that further custody was needed to extract data from Barakat’s mobile phone and determine who manages the channel.
Court proceedings revealed that the interview was aired at 9pm after being recorded at 9am, with Barakat stressing that editorial decisions were made by the channel’s management. He said he was a salaried employee acting under organisational instructions.
The judge observed that Barakat had not made any remarks himself and questioned why he had not been produced earlier despite being in NCCIA custody since the previous night. The investigation officer said senior officials needed to be briefed on the case and requested 10–30 days of physical remand. The court instead approved a four-day physical remand.
