New York, September 10, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
An international press freedom organisation has urged Pakistani authorities to immediately release journalist Muhammad Bilal Ghauri and withdraw the cybercrime case registered against him over his commentary on the appointment of a senior counterterrorism official.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) raised the demand after a judicial magistrate in Islamabad approved a three-day physical remand of Ghauri following a request from the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA). The journalist is facing proceedings under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).
According to the First Information Report cited by Pakistani newspaper Dawn, Ghauri allegedly uploaded and circulated content on September 5 concerning the appointment of the National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) head. The FIR stated that the material prima facie contained assertions and allegations about the process and circumstances surrounding the appointment.
CPJ said Ghauri’s detention represents a disturbing attack on press freedom, particularly amid what it described as increasing use of PECA and other cybercrime laws against journalists and online commentators.
Ghauri, who reports through a popular YouTube channel, had reportedly gone missing from the ground-floor office of his Islamabad home on September 6, after which his family reported his disappearance. Authorities later confirmed that he had been detained by the NCCIA in connection with the investigation.
CPJ said the case relates to Ghauri’s commentary on social media platform X regarding the appointment of Major General Faisal Naseer as national coordinator of NACTA.
“Detaining journalist Muhammad Bilal Ghauri for his commentary on the appointment of a public official to a national security agency is a disturbing attack on press freedom in Pakistan,” CPJ’s Afghanistan-Pakistan representative Waliullah Rahmani said. He called for Ghauri’s immediate release, withdrawal of the case and protection for journalists scrutinising state institutions.
The CPJ also noted that Ghauri had faced scrutiny previously. In June 2021, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency summoned him for questioning over alleged online defamation.
The latest case comes amid wider concerns over freedom of expression in Pakistan. Last month, media professionals, artists, academics and human rights defenders at a roundtable convened by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), with European Union support, warned of what they described as one of the country’s gravest crises for freedom of expression in decades.
The participants raised concerns over alleged misuse of PECA, expanding censorship and surveillance, arbitrary restrictions on online expression, shrinking access to information, intimidation of journalists and growing pressure on independent, regional and digital media.
FOLLOW NOW
