ISLAMABAD: The Special Court on Prevention of Electronic Crimes on Saturday convicted a British-Pakistani for blackmailing and sexually harassing a woman, and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment.

Special Judge Azam Khan also imposed Rs150,000 fine on the convict, Ashfaq Khalil, a resident of Jhelum.

As per the prosecution, the convict shared objectionable photographs and videos of the woman on social media. He the started blackmailing the family of the victim by sending them objectionable contents. The Cyber Crime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered a complaint in June last year.

Following registration of the First Information Report (FIR) he was taken into custody. The convict had applied for bail after arrest in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) which was dismissed.

Meanwhile, judicial magistrate of the FIA handed over the custody of Samiullah, a resident of Peshawar, for making objectionable videos and photographs of women and blackmailing them. The court granted three days’ physical remand of the accused to the Cyber Crime Wing of the FIA.

The complainant in the case were two sisters residing in Islamabad. The suspect was blackmailing both of them.

The FIA has so far recovered two mobile phones from the suspect. The Senior Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate approved the FIA’s request seeking remand of the suspect for further recoveries. The court directed the FIA to produce the suspect on April 11.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2023