26 January 2004	Monday	03 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Jan 25: Police on Sunday confirmed that a reporter arrested in December while working with two French journalists had been charged with 'anti-state' activity.

"Three people have been arrested, including Khawar Mehdi Rizvi, for anti-state activity," Balochistan police chief Shoaib Suddle told AFP. Mr Suddle identified the other two detained in Quetta as Allah Noor and Abdullah Shakir.

Mr Rizvi was engaged by the French journalists and "he in collaboration with Noor and Shakir arranged a fake video on Taliban training in Pakistan and tried to defame the country," the police chief said.

He said they had been charged with "criminal conspiracy and anti-state activity." The crime is punishable by life imprisonment. Mr Rizvi and French journalists Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau of L'Express magazine were arrested on Dec 16 for violating their visas by travelling to Quetta near Afghanistan without permission.

The Frenchmen were freed and flew home on Jan 13 after paying a fine. But the whereabouts of Mr Rizvi were not known since PTV showed him in custody soon after the trio's arrest. PTV ran clips of the documentary in which Noor and Shakir allegedly posed as Taliban.-AFP