The Punjab Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) has arrested a YouTuber in Lahore and registered a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, over alleged links with a banned organisation.
The suspect has been identified in the FIR [First Information Report] as Muhammad Saad bin Riaz, associated with a YouTube channel named Eon News.
According to the FIR, a case has been registered on behalf of the state under Section 11F(2), which relates to membership and support of a proscribed organisation, and Section 11W, concerning dissemination of material linked to banned groups.
The FIR states that the arrest was made on April 27 during a search operation near GPO Chowk on Mall Road.
“After getting information from a source that a suspected al-Qaeda member was present at a mosque, Hanfia Ghusia Mughal Saraiy, opposite to Lytton Road, he was caught recruiting individuals and distributing prohibited material,” the FIR states.
Officials claimed that during the raid, five copies of a book about Osama bin Laden were recovered from his custody along with an al-Qaeda membership card.
Meanwhile, social media users have contested the allegations, with some claiming the charges are fabricated.
While Saad’s colleagues have vowed to contest the merits of the case, the arrest has also drawn reactions from netizens beyond Pakistan.
Palestinian commentator Iyad el-Baghdadi wrote, “Muhammad Saad Riaz, Pakistani journalist & media professional who recently joined our launch team as content strategist, was abducted in Lahore last week. We’ve since found out that ridiculous & spurious charges of supporting terror have been brought against him”.
“These PTI guys are trying their level best to accuse Saad of things he never did. They are trying to manipulate his tweets based on their own grudges. Saad has been falsely accused and manifests a failure of a national institution. #releasesaad,” one user wrote amid claims regarding Saad’s political affiliations.
Another person wrote, “I have known Saad (@hafizsaadriaz) for many years, and I can say with full confidence that he is not the kind of person these accusations make him out to be. The case filed against him is completely false. The claim that he was ‘preaching Al-Qaeda’ in a mosque and that an ‘Al-Qaeda Membership Card’ was found on him is honestly ridiculous. Anyone who has ever met Saad knows that these charges are nothing but lies. It feels like this case has been made up just to shut him up”.
