Web Desk (LTN NEWS): On Tuesday, a district and sessions court in Islamabad put off making a decision on a police request to keep Bol TV anchor and YouTuber Jameel Farooqui in jail longer.
Farooqui was arrested in Karachi the day before for “falsely accusing” the police in Islamabad of hitting and groping PTI leader Shahbaz Gill.
After that, a judge in Karachi gave Farooqui to the police in Islamabad after giving them a three-day temporary release to move him to the capital. The YouTuber said that on the way to the capital, he was tortured, stripped, and kept at an unknown place for more than 12 hours.
He was brought before Judicial Magistrate Mian Azhar Nadeem in court earlier today. There was tight security, and reporters were not allowed in the courtroom.
During the hearing, the police asked for Farooqui to be locked up again.
On the other hand, his lawyer said that his client had said that he had been tortured after being arrested. He said that the police only want to keep him in jail so they can torture him more.
The lawyer also said that his client had only said things that Gill himself had already said. “In a show on YouTube, he just talked about Gill’s claims in his own way,” he said.
He asked the police if they were trying to “recover” information or proof and why they needed to keep his client in custody. He asked the judge to let his client off the hook.
Farooqui also took the stand and said that when he was arrested, his car, wallet, and other things were “stolen.” He then said that both the police in Sindh and in Islamabad had tortured him.
After hearing both sides, the judge put off making a decision.
Farooqui says that the police in Islamabad tortured him.
On Monday night, PTI’s official Twitter page posted a video of a clearly upset journalist being handcuffed at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. The video showed the journalist being helped by an Islamabad police officer.
Farooqui said in the clip that he was stripped naked and then beaten up.
“On the orders of the home ministry, and because I was telling the truth, they beat me, stripped me naked, and tortured me.”
“Right now, the Islamabad police have my transit remand to bring me from Karachi to Islamabad,” the journalist said, adding that neither his family nor his channel knew where he was.
He also said that for 12 hours he was kept blindfolded and in an unknown place.
