Media

(Reuters) - Social network Twitter has warned two Pakistani rights activists against objectionable content. They move is seen as a continuing push by the South Asian nation to rein in free speech online.

The November 12 warnings come a week after Twitter suspended the account of an ultra-right Pakistani cleric who issued threats to the government and judiciary over the acquittal of a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.

"Warnings sent out by Twitter are an example of how online spaces are being regulated and are shrinking for internet users voicing their opinions," said Pakistani lawyer and internet activist Nighat Dad.

In recent emails, Twitter told activist Taha Siddiqui it had received complaints his account was in "violation of Pakistani law," he said, and it added that further action could be taken, but did not specify what.

"Pakistani authorities ... are pressuring Twitter to take 'legal' steps against me," Siddiqui, a correspondent for France 24 television, who fled Pakistan this year, told Reuters.

"Twitter should stop becoming a facilitator of repressive regimes."

Twitter's Asia-Pacific representative had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.

Pakistan's information minister, Fawwad Chaudhry, told Reuters his office was "trying to establish close coordination" with Twitter to curb "hate speech and death threats," but did not directly respond to questions on the case of Siddiqui, and another activist who received two warnings, Gul Bukhari.

Bukhari, who was briefly abducted in July from a military cantonment in the eastern city of Lahore, said one of her email warnings from Twitter referred to a tweet that criticized the government's lack of action against a prominent cleric.

The cleric, Khadim Hussain Rizvi, had his account blocked last week after he threatened the Supreme Court judges who acquitted Asia Bibi and urged their cooks and servants to kill them.

In a reply to Twitter, Bukhari said Rizvi's speeches violated the law because he was inciting violence against state officials.

"In my tweet I am asking government to take action against him. In which world is that illegal?" she wrote.

Siddiqui, who left Pakistan after a failed abduction attempt he blames on the powerful military over his frequent social media criticism, now lives in France and says he believes the complaint to Twitter came from his home country.

A Pakistani court has ordered that a prominent journalist's name be removed from a list of people who cannot fly out of the country and the arrest warrant against him withdrawn.

The Lahore High Court in Punjab Province issued the orders on October 8 as it was hearing a petition that seeks to charge former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his successor Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Cyril Almeida, a correspondent at the English-language Dawn newspaper, with treason over comments critical of the country's powerful military.

The three reject the allegations against them.

Rights groups and legal associations say there is no justification to charge anybody for criticizing any institution.

The case was adjourned until October 22.

It relates to an interview published in May during which Sharif alleged the army was backing militants who carried out the deadly attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008.

India has repeatedly accused Pakistan's intelligence agency of helping the Lashkar-e Taiba militant group carry out the attack. Pakistan has denied any state involvement.

After the publication of the interview, Pakistan's National Security Council held a meeting to deliberate on the matter.

Abbasi, who was prime minister at the time, is accused of sharing the details of the meeting with Sharif.

Almeida, who conducted the interview, had faced arrest if he failed to appear before the court and had been barred from leaving the country.

Human rights groups and unions for media workers have protested threats to media freedom in Pakistan.

Sharif was disqualified from office by the Supreme Court last year over corruption allegations and was sentenced by an accountability court in July to 10 years in prison.

He has denied wrongdoing and suggested collusion between the country's military and courts to push him out of power.

Abbasi replaced Sharif as prime minister before an election earlier this year brought cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan to power.

With reporting by Dawn and Reuters