ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) judge Syed Kausar Abbas Zaidi on Wednesday rejected post-arrest bail for an alleged blasphemer.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has booked a man on charges of uploading sacrilegious material on social media.

The accused, however, denied the charges in his bail application and pleaded not guilty.

The counsel for accused had argued that his client had no connection with such a crime and ‘can’t even think of committing blasphemy’.

FIA arrested the accused in March when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) was hearing a petition seeking removal of blasphemous contents from the social media.

He was the fourth suspect the investigation agency had arrested in connection with uploading the blasphemous material.

The accused, however, claimed that one of his videos, which allegedly connected him with the blasphemy, had been uploaded on social media by someone after editing.

The FIA had arrested four suspects including the accused in the case and on a previous hearing the ATC had sent the suspects to jail on judicial remand for their alleged involvement in publishing blasphemous content on social media.

IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, in his short order issued in a blasphemy case, had directed the authorities concerned to amend the ‘Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act’ to incorporate sections related to blasphemy and pornography.

The court had also asked the government to attach penal clauses for leveling false blasphemy accusations.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2017