Journalist Nasrullah Chaudhry sentenced to five-year imprisonment

KARACHI — An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday sentenced journalist Nasrullah Chaudhry to five years rigorous imprisonment for possessing literature against the state and spreading religious hatred.

The court found the journalist who worked for daily Nai Baat guilty of various offenses under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. These included Section 11-F (association with a proscribed outfit), and Section 11-W(i) (printing, publishing or disseminating any material to incite hatred or giving projection to any person convicted for a terrorist act or any proscribed organization or an organization placed under observation or anyone concerned in terrorism).

The journalist was arrested on November 11, 2018, from Karachi. According to the charge sheet, he was detained with journals and booklets about Afghan jihad and the Punjabi Taliban as he allegedly wanted to sow sectarian hatred and to motivate people for jihad.

The journalist, in his statement under Section 342 of the CRC, denied the allegations, saying three prosecution witnesses falsely deposed against him.