Toronto student jailed in Pakistan over social media content denied bail

The Canadian University of Toronto PhD student who was arrested while conducting research for his dissertation in Pakistan has been denied bail.

Hamza Ahmed Khan’s brother, Awes Ahmed Khan, said the entire week was emotionally draining, as his family met with lawyers, travelled from office to office and attended the bail hearing Friday.

“There is no reason to keep him behind bars. It feels like the system wants to punish him before a trial,” he said. “We've not slept properly in a week.”

Ahmed Khan, a dual Canadian-Pakistani citizen, travelled to Pakistan in December to interview experts on the politics of democracy promotion in Muslim-majority societies. His family says he went missing on Feb. 19 and has been in Lahore district jail since Feb. 21.

Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) detained Ahmed Khan for alleged infractions of the country’s 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. In its official report, the NCCIA said it found, during one of its routine patrols, that Ahmed Khan’s X and Instagram accounts were “disseminating misinformation and disinformation targeting state institutions.”

The family’s lawyer, Asad Jamal, said the decision to deny Ahmed Khan bail was based on precedential cases that don’t match this specific one.

“We were disappointed,” he said.

CBC Toronto reached out to the NCCIA for comment.

In the court’s order, judicial magistrate Muhammad Naeem Wattoo said allegations of such “derogatory and malicious campaigns” aimed at the state “cannot be treated as trivial or casual matters.”

“In the digital era, dissemination of inflammatory content through social media platforms produces instantaneous and far-reaching consequences,” he said. “Therefore, such allegations require serious judicial consideration and cannot be brushed aside lightly.”

Wattoo added there is a difference between “ordinary criticism” and “conduct capable of disturbing public order and national cohesion.”

“The possibility of tampering with electronic evidence or repetition of similar activity cannot be ruled out at this stage,” he said.

Awes disputes this, noting his brother shared ideas with a few dozen followers on a public platform created for free speech and discussion.

“The system should not punish speech and ideas,” he said. “If critical posts about human rights [or] government policies will lead to people being given jail time without due fair process, then it affects everybody's ability to speak freely, not just Hamza’s.”