LAHORE: A government spokesman has dismissed a journalist’s claim as “baseless” that a suspect arrested in the slaying of eight girls was linked to a child-porn network.
Malik Ahmed Khan said Friday investigators found no bank accounts linked to multiple killing suspect Mohammad Imran, who was arrested in connection with this month’s rape and killing of 7-year-old Zainab Ansari.
Khan said the probe of Imran was launched on orders from Pakistan’s chief justice, who wanted investigators to look into TV journalist Shahid Masood’s claims. The Karachi-based journalist insisted before the court Thursday that Imran could be part of a gang that supplied porn videos of children to an international network.
Khan said the journalist’s claim was “baseless and concocted.”
Pakistan dismisses claim murder suspect linked to porn ring
Pakistan dismisses claim murder suspect linked to porn ring
Related
Bangladesh arrests journalist for ‘anti-state activities’
DHAKA: Bangladesh police on Monday said they had arrested a veteran journalist for alleged “anti-state activities,” accused of promoting the banned party of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
The arrest, which comes ahead of key elections in February, the first vote since the student-led uprising last year that overthrew the autocratic government of Hasina and her Awami League, sparked concerns from a key rights group.
Anis Alamgir was arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act along with three others, accused of spreading propaganda in talk shows and social media posts, and conspiring to rehabilitate the Awami League.
The interim government banned Hasina’s Awami League in May under amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act — a move Human Rights Watch condemned as “draconian.”
“Anis Alamgir has been arrested on accusations of conspiring against the state,” said Kazi Mohammad Rafiq, officer-in-charge of Uttara West police station in the capital Dhaka.
Three others were named in police documents alongside Alamgir, including actress Meher Afroz Shaon.
Rights organization Ain o Salish Kendra condemned the arrest.
“Using a law, originally enacted to prevent terrorist activities, against freedom of expression and journalism is against the fundamental principles of a democratic state,” it said in a statement.
“It’s an attack on freedom of expression.”
Press freedom in Bangladesh has long been under threat, and Hasina’s tenure was marked as one of the worst periods for media freedom in the South Asian nation.
Bangladesh ranks 149 out of 180 countries for press freedom in 2025, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), up from 165 a year before.
But RSF also notes that over 130 journalists were subjected to “unfounded judicial proceedings” and five detained, in the “political purge that followed the fall of Sheikh Hasina.”
Those listed as detained pending trial are Ekattor TV’s Farzana Rupa, Shakil Ahmad and Mozammel Babu, as well as freelancer Shahriar Kabir and Shyamal Dutta, editor of Bhorer Kagoj newspaper.
