Journalist Farhan Mallick was granted bail on monday by two different Karachi courts in cases accusing him of creating supposedly ‘anti-state’ content and engaging in data theft through a call center.
Mallick, the innovative founder of media agency Raftar and a previous news director at Samaa TV, was apprehended on March 20 in Karachi, ensnared under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and the Pakistan Penal Code due to alleged anti-state content disseminated via his YouTube channel.
The arrest drew widespread condemnation from both media associations and rights advocates.
District and Sessions Judge (East) Dr. Chaudhry Wasim Iqbal listened to Mallick’s appeal against a judicial magistrate’s denial of bail concerning the ‘anti-state’ content allegations and granted his request, while Judicial Magistrate (Malir) Piyar Ali Khoso authorized bail in the call center matter.
The bails were approved against surety bonds worth Rs100,000 in each of the two cases.
Mallick’s outlet Raftar hailed the bail in the anti-state content case as a “small victory in a long journey”.
“We are now headed to Malir Court with [the] legal team for the second hearing — keep making dua; hope and resilience keep us going,” it wrote on X.