Pakistan: Journalist Imran Riaz lands in Chakwal jail

Islamabad, July 8 Chakwal police arrested journalist Imran Riaz Khan from the Attock district judicial complex soon after a judge, in an early morning verdict, dismissed a treason case against him and ordered his release for lack of sufficient evidence, Dawn reported on Thursday.
The journalist, who was arrested by Attock police near Islamabad on Tuesday night, was granted relief by a local court in the wee hours of Thursday, which proved to be short-lived he was arrested by a team of Chakwal police team which was waiting outside the courtroom.
Earlier, the judge had rejected an application by Chakwal police to hand over the anchorperson into their custody as he chided the officials for not “adhering to legal procedures”.
“Imran Riaz cannot be handed over to Chakwal police,” the judge said in his verdict. But as Mr Riaz walked out of the courtroom after his release, he “voluntarily” handed himself over to the waiting police party, who subsequently moved him to a police station in Chakwal, media reported.
The ruling that ordered the release of the journalist was reserved by Judge Tanvir at 3 am. As he read out the verdict around 4am, the judge ordered the immediate release of the journalist.