Media

A Pakistani court has extended the bail of Shahzeb Jillani, an investigative reporter accused of cybercrimes, until April 27.

Jillani, who works for the Urdu-language Dunya News TV channel, is accused of “cyberterrorism" and making “defamatory remarks against the respected institutions of Pakistan.”

A court in the port city of Karachi said on April 25 that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan's law enforcement agency, had failed to file a case against Jillani with the court.

The FIA had lodged a police complaint against Jillani on April 6.

Jillani is accused of making "audacious remarks against invisible security forces of Pakistan" during an appearance on Dunya TV in 2017. He also is accused of making similar comments in 2019.

The police report into the complaint said Jillani had also tweeted "sarcastic, derogatory, disrespectful, and defamatory language" against Pakistani state institutions.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last week condemned what it called the "trumped-up charges" against Jillani.

The Paris-based media watchdog said in a statement on April 16 that the case against Jillani has been designed to intimidate and silence Pakistan’s journalists.

It called on the court to dismiss the charges.

Jillani has been charged under a controversial cybercrimes act and two criminal code provisions.

Jillani, who previously worked for the BBC and Deutsche Welle, is known for his critical reporting on Pakistan's powerful army and intelligence services.

Based on reporting by Dawn and Samaa TV

Hostility toward journalists often expressed by political leaders is putting media at risk globally, the watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its annual report published on April 18.

Hatred of the media spread by politicians had "incited increasingly serious and frequent acts of violence that have fueled an unprecedented level of fear and danger for journalists," it said in its 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

A "hostile climate that goes beyond [President] Donald Trump's comments" meant the United States had fallen three places to number 48 in the index, according to RSF.

The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul also "sent a chilling message to journalists well beyond the borders of Saudi Arabia," down three to 172, the report said.

In other countries, threats, insults and attacks had become "occupational hazards," RSF said, noting that in India, ranked 140, six journalists were murdered last year.

RSF said the number of countries regarded as safe, where journalists can work in complete security, continues to decline, while authoritarian regimes continue to tighten their grip on the media.

Norway topped the index for the third year running. At the other end, Turkmenistan replaced North Korea in the bottom spot at 180.

Russia, ranked 149, continues to persecute independent media outlets, the RSF report said.

Uzbekistan’s rating rose five spots to 160, after freeing all the journalists who were imprisoned under Islam Karimov, an autocrat who ruled for a quarter-century until his death in 2016.

Armenia's ranking was up 19 spots to 61. This, RSF said, was a result of the “velvet revolution,” which has loosened the government’s grip on state-owned broadcasting.

Iran, on the other hand, was down six places to 170. RSF noted Iran is “one of the world’s biggest jailers of journalists.”

Afghanistan, ranked 121, and Pakistan, ranked 142, were noted in the RSF report for the “extremely high” number of murdered journalists.

With reporting by dpa