Court grants bail to Iqrarul Hassan in cybercrime case
A Karachi court ordered his release on Rs200,000 surety bonds, three weeks after the NCCIA arrested him over posts on X, Instagram and Facebook.
KARACHI: A Karachi court granted bail to anchorperson Iqrarul Hassan on Saturday in a cybercrime case registered over posts on his social media accounts, ordering his release against surety bonds of Rs200,000.
His lawyer, Advocate Ahmad Masood, confirmed the order to Dawn. Dawn reported that the bail was granted by East Judicial Magistrate Gulraiz. ARY News described the order as coming from a district court and gave the same surety amount.
Hassan was arrested by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) and booked under several sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca). The first information report accuses him of using accounts on X, Instagram and Facebook to circulate fabricated and defamatory material against the state, its institutions and government officials, and of presenting state institutions and their actions in a misleading way to provoke public resentment. The FIR says his large following and publicly accessible posts let the material reach audiences in Pakistan and overseas.
ARY News, which described Hassan as chief of Awam Raj Tehreek, reported that he was arrested in Lahore's Defence Housing Authority and brought to Karachi at about 1am. His wife, Farah Iqrar, alleged that five to seven people, including women, who said they were NCCIA officials came to their Defence C residence late on Sunday night, threatened to break down the door and took him away by force.
Hassan was sent to a four-day physical remand on October 13, Minute Mirror reported, and the District and Sessions Court East rejected a defence petition against that remand on October 15. The remand was extended by two days on October 16. On October 19, a judicial magistrate sent him to judicial remand after refusing the NCCIA's request for a further extension and directed the agency to file its challan within 14 days, according to ARY News. Judicial Magistrate-East dismissed a bail application on October 22, ARY News reported.
Advocate Masood said the agency had filed a charge sheet and seized Hassan's mobile devices, Minute Mirror reported. The NCCIA told the court it needed no further investigation involving Hassan, but the forensic examination report on the devices was still awaited.
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