Court remands journalist Farhan Mallick to judicial custody

• Court denies FIA’s request for Mallick’s remand.
• Bail hearing in Peca case set for April 3.
• Money laundering case bail hearing on April 7.
  

KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Monday ordered the imprisonment of journalist Farhan Mallick under judicial custody.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented Mallick and the other accused before Special Judicial Magistrate Malir upon the completion of their physical remand. The magistrate denied further remand and ordered Mallick's transfer to Landhi jail.

During the hearing, one of the accused, Atir, told the court that he had never met Mallick before and saw him for the first time during remand in lockup. He refuted the claim that Mallick had any involvement in the illegal call centre.

Lawyer Jibran Nasir argued that the FIA had failed to provide details of the alleged crime committed by Mallick and questioned what evidence was recovered during his remand.

In response, the investigating officer said that the recovered equipment had been sent for forensic examination.

Nasir further claimed that as soon as Mallick was sent on judicial remand, another case was registered against him. He questioned whether a third case would also be initiated against the journalist.

However, the investigating officer informed the court that no further cases had been registered against Mallick.

Mallick faces two separate cases — one under after he was arrested under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) for allegedly posting anti-state content on social media, and another involving money laundering and facilitating an illegal call centre.

His bail hearing for the first case is scheduled for April 3, while the second case will be heard on April 7.

Mallick — who worked for a private news channel as its director news and now owns a YouTube channel — was taken into custody on March 20 for charges of spreading anti-state content. 

In another case that the FIA registered against Mallick, the agency claimed to have raided a call centre, alleging that its employees were involved in stealing data from foreigners and defrauding them.

Two suspects were arrested, who reportedly told authorities that the call centre was being operated under Mallick’s orders.

The FIR stated that the suspects, Syed Muhammad Atir Hussain and Hasan Najeeb Alam, along with others were involved in defrauding several foreign nationals by stealing confidential financial data of their credit cards "through spoofed calls and impersonation", which is allegedly used for wrongful gains.