Contempt of court against Rana Shamim and journalists in affidavit case

Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court (IHC), Athar Minallah has observed that former chief judge Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Rana Shamim and journalists appeared to have committed contempt of court.

The journalists include editor-in-Chief of the Jang Media Group Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman, and senior journalists Ansar Abbasi and Aamir Ghauri in connection with a news report about an affidavit that accused former Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan Saqib Nisar of trying to delay the release from prison of former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

The court said the news report [in The News] was published without taking reasonable care.

Additionally, the IHC also appointed Attorney General (AG) for Pakistan Khalid Javed as the prosecutor in the case, reports Dawn.

Editor Aamer Ghauri and reporter Ansar Abbasi argued that they had published the news report in the public interest. In reply, the order stated that freedom of expression did not apply to the cases pending in the courts.

“It appears that the reporter had not sought any legal advice regarding the status of a copy of a leaked document in the form of an affidavit,” said the order.

However, Shamim and others have been asked to appear in court on January 7 for prosecution in the contempt of court case.