Hate speech case: SHC approves bail application of 11 people

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has approved the bail application of 11 people charged for being involved in incendiary speech on August 22, 2016 and for the subsequent attack on media houses.

During hearing of the hate speech case on Tuesday, the bail applications were approved and the petitioners were asked to submit bail bonds of Rs100,000 each.

Cases against the petitioners were lodged at Artillery Maidan police station in the city.

On Monday, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) chief Farooq Sattar said SHC had accepted his application and hence granted him and another party leader Aamir Khan pre-arrest bail in different cases.

The cases were filed after MQM's founding leader — in a speech to participants of a hunger strike outside the Karachi Press Club on August 22, 2016 — incited party workers following which they took to the streets, ransacked media houses and vandalised property.

At least one person died and eight others were injured in the ensuing violence.