LAHORE: A sessions court on Thursday granted pre-arrest bail to anchorperson Imran Riaz in a cybercrime case of running a malicious campaign against the Punjab police chief and other law-enforcement agencies.

The anchorperson appeared before the court along with his counsel.

The lawyer argued that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) implicated the journalist in the case with a mala fide intention.

He said no such case was registered when the police ‘unlawfully’ arrested the anchorperson from Sialkot airport in May.

He alleged that the petitioner was kept in unlawful detention by the law enforcement agencies till his recovery on Sept 25.

The counsel asked the court to allow the bail petition of the anchorperson and restrain the FIA from arresting him.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Nawaz Bhatti granted bail to Mr Riaz till Nov 28 and issued a notice to the FIA for submission of a written reply.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2023