- 22 Aug 2022 22:27
#15244020
A former close aide to Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been arrested and will face sedition charges. His name is Shahbaz Gill.
The reason why the military wants to charge him is because he suggested the junior ranks were being pressured by the top brass and that "these orders" were against the wishes of the majority, and that the junior ranks should reconsider following orders that were against their principles. He made these comments during an interview that was aired on ARY TV. ARY TV's head of news, Ammad Yousaf, has also been arrested. ARY News has also been ordered to be taken off air by a state-run media regulator for allegedly airing "false, hateful and seditious" content, presumably related to Gill's remarks that were broadcast.
Former prime minister Khan said that Gill was mistreated during his arrest.
Pakistan's interior minister, Rana Sanaullah, said that both Shahbaz Gill and ARY News will face sedition charges for "inciting mutiny" in the military, and said that "it was a planned move to malign our institutions."
The military is very powerful in Pakistan and holds a lot of power and influence.
Gill had said in the TV appearance that there were attempts to create hatred against Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party among the middle and lower ranks of the military, whom he said loved the party. He said soldiers and officers should refuse to obey "illegal orders" from the military.
Political analysts say that that Khan, who was brought to power in a 2018 election with the military's support, had fallen out with the powerful generals in his final months in office. Both Khan and the military publicly deny that (but there are political reasons why they would deny it even if true).
Former Pakistan PM Khan's aide, TV channel face sedition charges | Reuters, August 10, 2020, Asif Shahzad
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 022-08-10/
So much for freedom of speech. Even in countries where the right to free speech is supposedly guaranteed in law, political speech could still sometimes be interpreted as violating other laws. This clearly illustrates why prosecutorial discretion is so important. This is probably not the sort of thing that would be prosecuted in any free Western country, being seen as the sort of thing that should fall under protected political speech rather than criminal sedition.
But this is how things routinely work in Third World countries.
Members of the local media outlet ARY News carried out a public protest against the arrest of the channel's head of news and the taking of the channel off air in Karachi, the largest city in the country.
Terrorism charges have been filed against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, escalating political tensions in the country as the ousted premier holds mass rallies seeking to return to office.
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/22/11187307 ... imran-khan
The report against Khan included testimony from Magistrate Judge Ali Javed, who described being at the Islamabad rally and hearing Khan criticize the inspector-general of Pakistan's police and another judge. Khan allegedly said: "You also get ready for it, we will also take action against you. All of you must be ashamed."
Khan could face several years in prison from the new charges, which accuse him of threatening police officers and the judge under the country's sedition act.
The reason why the military wants to charge him is because he suggested the junior ranks were being pressured by the top brass and that "these orders" were against the wishes of the majority, and that the junior ranks should reconsider following orders that were against their principles. He made these comments during an interview that was aired on ARY TV. ARY TV's head of news, Ammad Yousaf, has also been arrested. ARY News has also been ordered to be taken off air by a state-run media regulator for allegedly airing "false, hateful and seditious" content, presumably related to Gill's remarks that were broadcast.
Former prime minister Khan said that Gill was mistreated during his arrest.
Pakistan's interior minister, Rana Sanaullah, said that both Shahbaz Gill and ARY News will face sedition charges for "inciting mutiny" in the military, and said that "it was a planned move to malign our institutions."
The military is very powerful in Pakistan and holds a lot of power and influence.
Gill had said in the TV appearance that there were attempts to create hatred against Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party among the middle and lower ranks of the military, whom he said loved the party. He said soldiers and officers should refuse to obey "illegal orders" from the military.
Political analysts say that that Khan, who was brought to power in a 2018 election with the military's support, had fallen out with the powerful generals in his final months in office. Both Khan and the military publicly deny that (but there are political reasons why they would deny it even if true).
Former Pakistan PM Khan's aide, TV channel face sedition charges | Reuters, August 10, 2020, Asif Shahzad
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-paci ... 022-08-10/
So much for freedom of speech. Even in countries where the right to free speech is supposedly guaranteed in law, political speech could still sometimes be interpreted as violating other laws. This clearly illustrates why prosecutorial discretion is so important. This is probably not the sort of thing that would be prosecuted in any free Western country, being seen as the sort of thing that should fall under protected political speech rather than criminal sedition.
But this is how things routinely work in Third World countries.
Members of the local media outlet ARY News carried out a public protest against the arrest of the channel's head of news and the taking of the channel off air in Karachi, the largest city in the country.
Terrorism charges have been filed against former Prime Minister Imran Khan, escalating political tensions in the country as the ousted premier holds mass rallies seeking to return to office.
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/22/11187307 ... imran-khan
The report against Khan included testimony from Magistrate Judge Ali Javed, who described being at the Islamabad rally and hearing Khan criticize the inspector-general of Pakistan's police and another judge. Khan allegedly said: "You also get ready for it, we will also take action against you. All of you must be ashamed."
Khan could face several years in prison from the new charges, which accuse him of threatening police officers and the judge under the country's sedition act.
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