A Pakistani court orders the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan for insulting the state

Lahore court overturns ban on broadcasting his speeches on television

March 9 (EUROPA PRESS) – ,

The Court of Quetta, in western Pakistan, has ordered this Thursday the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Jan for an alleged hate crime and insults against the State and its institutions.

According to the accusation, the statements by the also leader of the Movement for Justice of Pakistan (PTI) have the objective of “destroying public peace and order”, at the same time that they damage the credibility of the institutions and people who work in them, reports the Pakistani newspaper ‘Dawn’.

This Thursday, and in relation to this case, the High Court of Lahore, in eastern Pakistan, has annulled the ban imposed by the media regulatory agency on issuing Jan speeches, considering that it violates the right to freedom expression.

The Pakistani Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Sunday imposed the ban immediately in view of his “provocative statements against state institutions and officials” as “harmful to the maintenance of law and order”.

This week, the Islamabad High Court canceled until March 13 the arrest warrants against Jan for the case of the gifts he received when he was prime minister and that he would have hidden in his statements. The law allows government officials to keep the gifts as long as they pay the state a fraction of their value, previously appraised.

Jan was the subject of a vote of no confidence in April 2022 after the Supreme Court reversed its decision to dissolve Parliament and announce early elections following the National Assembly’s refusal to hold the first-instance vote. In November, the former prime minister was shot after being shot during a protest against the new government.