ISLAMABAD/LONDON: After securing protective bail from the Islamabad High Court (IHC), content creators Rajab Butt and Nadeem Mubarak, also known as Nani Wala, were expected to return from London and surrender to the authorities in ongoing legal cases on Wednesday (today).
The court has granted them protective bail till Wednesday in response to a petition filed by Butt and Mubarak’s relatives, to ensure the content creators are not arrested on arrival.
“The accused (Rajab Butt and Nadeem Mubarak) shall not be arrested upon landing at Islamabad Airport until he surrenders before this court on the date fixed,” the orders read.
Mian Ali Ashfaq, who represents Butt, claimed the YouTuber had not been deported from the UK and was returning to Pakistan of his own free will. “He has left the UK on his own independent choice to return to Pakistan and has already surrendered before the Islamabad High Court today and by doing such, he’s granted access to reach … Islamabad without any hindrance by or from any administrative authority requiring him in any criminal case,” Ashfaq wrote on X.
British court orders Adil Raja to pay damages, publish apology after losing defamation appeal
The content creators are no strangers to legal trouble. In September, Butt was booked by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) for allegedly promoting online gambling apps on social media.
Nadeem was also booked by the NCCIA for allegedly promoting gambling apps on his social media, but he was also arrested in September for displaying a fake registration number — ‘IK-804’ — on his car. On being quizzed, he couldn’t satisfy the police with regard to displaying the fake registration number, IK-804, which is said to be the prisoner number allotted to incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan.
Adil Raja
Meanwhile, a high court judge in the UK ordered Adil Raja to publicly apologise to retired Brig Rashid Naseer after the YouTuber lost a defamation case in October.
Judge Richard Spearman KC directed that the apology must remain on Adil Raja’s social media accounts and website for 28 days. The court also ordered Adil Raja to pay £50,000 in damages and £260,000 in legal costs by Dec 22.
The order was issued after Raja, who lost a defamation case earlier this year, was also refused permission to appeal the October judgement. The judge had earlier directed Raja to publish a summary confirming that the statements were defamatory and that retired Brig Naseer had succeeded in his claim.
His legal counsel indicated that he intends to take the matter to the Court of Appeal. The court also issued an injunction preventing Raja from repeating the defamatory claims in the future.
The case concerned 10 publications on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, in which Raja accused the retired officer of taking control of the Lahore High Court, influencing elections and bribing politicians.
Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2025