New York, March 21, 2025—Pakistani authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Farhan Mallick, detained 1 in Karachi Thursday by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and cease harassing journalists in retaliation for their journalistic work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.
Mallick, founder of the independent online media platform Raftar 2 , was arrested on accusations 3 of running “several programs against the security establishment.” The FIA had visited Raftar’s office a day earlier, harassed Mallick and his staff, and verbally summoned him to appear at their offices on Thursday, according to a post by Raftar 4 on social platform X. Upon his appearance, he was detained without any official legal notice.
“The alarming detention of prominent journalist Farhan Mallick, along with the disappearance of journalist Asif Karim Khehtran 5 and the abduction of exiled journalist Ahmed Noorani’s brothers, shows how the Pakistani government has no regard for press freedom and independent journalism. This must stop, and the state of Pakistan should respect the law,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Officials must immediately and unconditionally release Mallick and allow him and his media outlet to independently carry out their work.”
On Friday, Mallick appeared 6 before the Judicial Magistrate (East) court in Karachi, where the magistrate ordered him placed in FIA custody for four days. The journalist’s lawyer told the court that he was detained despite previous orders from the Sindh High Court preventing any legal action against him.
In late 2024, Mallick said 7 that FIA agents briefly detained him at Karachi’s airport and stopped him from boarding a flight to Doha, telling him after the flight left that he was on a travel ban list. After being subjected to two FIA inquiries the month before, he had petitioned the Sindh High Court to stop the harassment, he said.
Raftar, whose YouTube channel 8 has about 750,000 followers, describes itself as “a dynamic platform dedicated to driving social change through the power of storytelling.” The outlet produces reports and documentaries on economic, political, and security issues in Pakistan. Mallick was previously news director of privately owned TV channel Samaa TV.
CPJ’s messages for comment to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar have received no response.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists 9 and was authored by CPJ Staff.