LAHORE: A judicial magistrate at district courts on Friday dismissed the post-arrest bail petition of a Canadian national Pakistani PhD scholar in a cybercrime case.

Magistrate Naeem Wattoo announced the decision on the petition of Hamza Ahmad Khan after hearing arguments from the prosecution and defence.

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) registered the case against him under Sections 20, 24, and 26-A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (Peca).

The investigating officer told the court that the suspect had been uploading “derogatory posts against state functionaries and state institutions with the intention to harm the reputation of the state functionaries”.

Advocate Asad Jamal, on behalf of the petitioner, argued that the suspect had been falsely implicated in the case. He said the case was based on digital evidence, which required strict proof and keeping the petitioner behind bars was unwarranted.

“Allegations of such derogatory and malicious campaigns directed against the heads of institutions of state and constitutional functionaries cannot be treated as trivial or casual matters,” said the order issued by the magistrate.

The magistrate noted that in the digital era, dissemination of inflammatory content through social media platforms produced instantaneous and far-reaching consequences.

“Statements aimed at undermining the dignity and authority of state leadership have the potential to erode public confidence in constitutional institutions, fuel polarization, create unrest and instability within the country,” the magistrate said.

He said these allegations required serious judicial consideration and could not be brushed aside lightly.

“I am not inclined to extend the concession of bail to the accused,” the magistrate said, dismissing the petition.

In a statement, defence counsel Jamal said the order passed by the judicial magistrate was not based on the correct understanding of the law and jurisprudence in cases where sections 20, 24, 26A of the Peca 2016 law so far as the bail proceedings were concerned.

He said that it was essentially a ‘non-speaking’ order which does not speak to arguments and the judgements of high courts and the Supreme Court of Pakistan that were submitted before him.

He claimed the magistrate had ignored a long stream of case law of superior courts which was binding on it and which held that granting bail in such cases should be the norm, and that guilt could only be determined at trial. “Our arguments and the judgements we relied on have not even been discussed to deny bail,” he maintained. Instead the judgements the learned magistrate relied on were not even remotely relevant to Hamza Khan’s case, he added.

He said Hamza, who was a Phd candidate with the University of Toronto, was being punished without his guilt having been established.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2026