May 9 violence: Senior journalist, vloggers booked in sedition case

• Case registered in Islamabad under sections of PPC and ATA.
• Islamabad IGP says perpetrators to be dealt with according to law.
• Experts say sedition and terror charges are punishable by death.

ISLAMABAD: A Washington-based journalist Shaheen Sehbai and three vloggers — Syed Haider Raza Mehdi, Wajahat Saeed Khan, and major (retired) Adil Farooq Raja — have been booked for inciting violence during the May 9 protests, The News reported.

The FIR was registered at Islamabad's Ramna Police Station under sections 120-B, 121, 121-A, and 131 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

The written complaint by Mohammad Aslam stated that the suspects nominated in the FIR were involved in inciting people on May 9 through video messages and writings into attacking sensitive military installations to create anarchy in the country.

When contacted, Islamabad IGP Dr Akbar Nasir said the perpetrators of inciting the public to attack sensitive installations would be dealt with according to the law.

Legal experts have said that the charges framed against the suspects under the sedition and terrorism offences are punishable by death and life imprisonment.

For example, Section 120/B of the PPC says that “Whoever is a party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or rigorous imprisonment for a term of two years or upwards, shall, where no express provision is made in this Code for the punishment of such a conspiracy, be punished in the same manner as if he had abetted such offence.”

The other sections under which those named in the FIR have been nominated also read similarly.