Thursday, July 10, 2025
Asia Democracy Chronicles
Follow Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Features & Analysis
    • All
    • Analysis
    • Articles
    Hidden in plain sight

    Hidden in plain sight

    Unwavering rainbow warriors

    Unwavering rainbow warriors

    Beyond queerness, solidarity

    Beyond queerness, solidarity

    A risky heating up

    A risky heating up

    Lives on edge

    Lives on edge

    Stateless, twice over

    Stateless, twice over

    Laboring under a tariff threat

    Laboring under a tariff threat

    Left out by the law

    Left out by the law

    Between memory and forgetting: Keeping the spirit of Tiananmen alive

    Between memory and forgetting: Keeping the spirit of Tiananmen alive

  • Countries
    • NORTHEAST ASIA
      • China
        • Hong Kong
        • Macau
        • Tibet
      • Japan
      • Mongolia
      • North Korea
      • South Korea
      • Taiwan
    • SOUTH ASIA
      • Afghanistan
      • Bangladesh
      • India
      • Nepal
      • Pakistan
      • Sri Lanka
    • SOUTHEAST ASIA
      • Brunei
      • Cambodia
      • Indonesia
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Myanmar
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
      • Timor-Leste
      • Vietnam
    • GLOBAL / REGIONAL
  • Issues
    • Elections
    • Access to Education
    • Access to Health
    • Authoritarianism and Abuse of Power
    • Civil Liberties
    • Discrimination Against Covid-19 Patients and Specific Sectors
    • Gender-based Violence and Child Abuse
    • Governance
    • Labor and Migrant Workers’ Rights
    • Media Freedom – Issues
    • Movement and Migration
    • Privacy and Surveillance
    • Social Protection and Inclusion
      • Peace and Diplomacy
  • Democracy Digest
    • Democracy Digest Archive
  • Asia Through The Lens
    • Northeast Asia
    • South Asia
    • Southeast Asia
    • Regional / Global
  • Democracy Watch
  • Statements
    • Civil Society Statements
  • About
    • Pitch Us
    • Back to ADN
  • Features & Analysis
    • All
    • Analysis
    • Articles
    Hidden in plain sight

    Hidden in plain sight

    Unwavering rainbow warriors

    Unwavering rainbow warriors

    Beyond queerness, solidarity

    Beyond queerness, solidarity

    A risky heating up

    A risky heating up

    Lives on edge

    Lives on edge

    Stateless, twice over

    Stateless, twice over

    Laboring under a tariff threat

    Laboring under a tariff threat

    Left out by the law

    Left out by the law

    Between memory and forgetting: Keeping the spirit of Tiananmen alive

    Between memory and forgetting: Keeping the spirit of Tiananmen alive

  • Countries
    • NORTHEAST ASIA
      • China
        • Hong Kong
        • Macau
        • Tibet
      • Japan
      • Mongolia
      • North Korea
      • South Korea
      • Taiwan
    • SOUTH ASIA
      • Afghanistan
      • Bangladesh
      • India
      • Nepal
      • Pakistan
      • Sri Lanka
    • SOUTHEAST ASIA
      • Brunei
      • Cambodia
      • Indonesia
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Myanmar
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
      • Timor-Leste
      • Vietnam
    • GLOBAL / REGIONAL
  • Issues
    • Elections
    • Access to Education
    • Access to Health
    • Authoritarianism and Abuse of Power
    • Civil Liberties
    • Discrimination Against Covid-19 Patients and Specific Sectors
    • Gender-based Violence and Child Abuse
    • Governance
    • Labor and Migrant Workers’ Rights
    • Media Freedom – Issues
    • Movement and Migration
    • Privacy and Surveillance
    • Social Protection and Inclusion
      • Peace and Diplomacy
  • Democracy Digest
    • Democracy Digest Archive
  • Asia Through The Lens
    • Northeast Asia
    • South Asia
    • Southeast Asia
    • Regional / Global
  • Democracy Watch
  • Statements
    • Civil Society Statements
  • About
    • Pitch Us
    • Back to ADN
No Result
View All Result
Asia Democracy Chronicles
No Result
View All Result
Home Communications Statements

Punjab authorities open blasphemy and defamation investigation into Pakistani journalist Waqar Satti

Pakistani journalist Waqar Satti is under investigation in Punjab province for alleged blasphemy and defamation.

The GuardianbyThe Guardian
September 1, 2022
in Statements
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

1 September 2022

New York, August 30, 2022– Authorities in Pakistan’s northeast Punjab province must immediately drop their investigation into journalist Waqar Satti, allow him to report freely, and investigate threats he received in retaliation for his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

On Saturday, August 27, police in the Punjab city of Rawalpindi filed a first information report, a document opening an investigation, into Satti, a senior political correspondent for the privately owned broadcaster Geo News, according to news reports, statements by the Pakistan Press Foundation press freedom group and the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists trade group, and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview.

The investigation stems from a since-deleted video posted on Satti’s Twitter account on August 26, which presented quotes attributed to former Prime Minister Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, according to those sources. The video, which CPJ reviewed, attributed quotes to Khan that are critical of Islam and the Quran. Satti often posts political commentary on his Twitter account, where he has about 75,000 followers.

Authorities opened their investigation after receiving a complaint by Chaudhry Nasir Qayyum, a public relations officer for Muhammad Bashrat Raja, a PTI party member in the Punjab provincial assembly, according to Satti and those reports. Qayyum accused Satti of attributing “disrespectful” and inaccurate statements about Islam to Khan.

Satti is under investigation for allegedly violating sections of the Pakistan penal code relating to blasphemy and defamation, according to a copy of the first information report that Raja posted on Twitter.

“The launching of a blasphemy and defamation investigation into Pakistani journalist Waqar Satti is an unacceptable abuse of power by Punjab provincial authorities,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director. “Authorities must immediately drop their investigation into Satti, cease harassing him in retaliation for his work, and instead focus on investigating those who have recently threatened the journalist.”

If charged and convicted of blasphemy, Satti faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine; convictions for defamation carry up to two years in prison and a fine, according to Pakistan’s penal code.

Satti told CPJ that, after posting the video on August 26, he received a number of threats on social media from people who appeared to be PTI supporters, who threatened to kill him and his family. Satti told CPJ that he has previously received similar threats from PTI supporters through comments on Twitter.

Satti also received calls from two unknown numbers, asking why he posted the videos, he said.

In his tweet posting the first information report, Raja accused Satti of “inciting religious hatred for political point-scoring.”

Satti told CPJ that he stood by the video, saying the quotes were accurate.

Pakistan’s parliament ousted Khan from power in April 2022, but the PTI holds power in Punjab, according to news reports.

The country’s federal information minister, Marriyum Aurangzeb, who was appointed in April 2022 by the new government led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, tweeted a condemnation of the investigation into Satti on Sunday.

CPJ emailed Raja’s office and the PTI party for comment, but did not receive any responses. CPJ was unable to find contact information for Qayyum.

CPJ contacted Punjab police Inspector-General Faisal Shahkar for comment via messaging app, but did not receive any reply.

Tags: ChinaNortheast AsiaStatement
The Guardian

The Guardian

Next Post
Protect, not Persecute Human Rights Defenders: AFAD Commemorates the International Day of the Disappeared

Protect, not Persecute Human Rights Defenders: AFAD Commemorates the International Day of the Disappeared

Marcos to raise deployment cap on Filipino nurses working overseas

Marcos to raise deployment cap on Filipino nurses working overseas

Draw the right lessons from Joseph Schooling, Amanda Lim’s cannabis case for the benefit of future athletes

Draw the right lessons from Joseph Schooling, Amanda Lim’s cannabis case for the benefit of future athletes

Features and Analysis

  • All
  • Special Feature
Hidden in plain sight
Special Feature

Hidden in plain sight

byKrixia Subingsubing
June 30, 2025
0

Despite Brunei's restrictive environment for LGBTQIA+ individuals, a new report reveals queer activists are creatively contributing to social change through...

Read more
Unwavering rainbow warriors
Special Feature

Unwavering rainbow warriors

byCristina Chi
June 30, 2025
0

As queer expression is heavily policed in Malaysia, LGBTQIA+ activists in civil society work learn to carve space and build...

Read more
Beyond queerness, solidarity
Special Feature

Beyond queerness, solidarity

byCristina Chi
June 29, 2025
0

Singapore's LGBTQIA+ activists are putting skills to good use as they navigate a fraught civic space to champion other rights...

Read more
A risky heating up
Articles

A risky heating up

bySuvendrini Kakuchi
June 27, 2025
0

Japan’s longer sizzling summers pose a deadly risk to the country’s growing elderly population and disproportionately impacts the poor.

Read more

Pitch Us A Story

Have a story to tell, nuanced insights, or expert analysis to share with a regional (i.e. Asia), even global, audience? Want to weigh in on specific issues, including those disproportionately affecting specific segments of society, which run the gamut from poverty and inequality to human rights violations? We’d love to hear from you.

We run features, op-eds, analyses, among others, that probe issues around fundamental rights and civil liberties, and illuminate the challenges of governance in Asia.

Yes, I’m Interested

Follow Us

Facebook
Twitter
RSS

©  Asia Democracy Chronicles.

Web Design and Development by Neitiviti Studios.

  • Features & Analysis
  • Countries
  • Issues
  • Democracy Digest
  • Asia Through The Lens
  • Democracy Watch
  • Statements
  • About
No Result
View All Result
  • Features & Analysis
  • Countries
    • NORTHEAST ASIA
      • China
      • Japan
      • Mongolia
      • North Korea
      • South Korea
      • Taiwan
    • SOUTH ASIA
      • Afghanistan
      • Bangladesh
      • India
      • Nepal
      • Pakistan
      • Sri Lanka
    • SOUTHEAST ASIA
      • Brunei
      • Cambodia
      • Indonesia
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Myanmar
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
      • Timor-Leste
      • Vietnam
    • GLOBAL / REGIONAL
  • Issues
    • Elections
    • Access to Education
    • Access to Health
    • Authoritarianism and Abuse of Power
    • Civil Liberties
    • Discrimination Against Covid-19 Patients and Specific Sectors
    • Gender-based Violence and Child Abuse
    • Governance
    • Labor and Migrant Workers’ Rights
    • Media Freedom – Issues
    • Movement and Migration
    • Privacy and Surveillance
    • Social Protection and Inclusion
      • Peace and Diplomacy
  • Democracy Digest
    • Democracy Digest Archive
  • Asia Through The Lens
    • Northeast Asia
    • South Asia
    • Southeast Asia
    • Regional / Global
  • Democracy Watch
  • Statements
    • Civil Society Statements
  • About
    • Pitch Us
    • Back to ADN

© 2022 Asia Democracy Chronicles - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In