Imran Riaz Khan, a renowned Pakistani journalist and political commentator who had been missing for more than four months, has been found and “is now with his family”. Imran Riaz Khan, a former TV news presenter with more than three million followers on YouTube, was arrested at Sialkot airport in May while he was on his way to Oman.
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00:00 Imran Riaz Khan, a renowned Pakistani journalist and political commentator who had been missing
00:06 for more than four months, has been found and is now with his family.
00:11 Imran Riaz Khan, a former TV news presenter with more than 3 million followers on YouTube,
00:16 was arrested at Sialkot Airport in May while he was on his way to Oman.
00:20 The Sialkot police informed the same via a post on Next.
00:23 "Journalist, anchor Mr. Imran Riaz Khan has been safely recovered.
00:27 He is now with his family," the post read.
00:29 The controversial 47-year-old TV anchor and commentator with more than 3 million followers
00:34 on YouTube was reportedly arrested two days after violent protests broke out across the
00:39 country following Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan's arrest on May 9.
00:44 Riaz Khan was last known to be taken to Kant Police Station after his arrest and later
00:48 to Sialkot Prison.
00:49 On May 15, a law officer told the Lahore High Court that the journalist was released from
00:54 jail after taking an undertaking in writing.
00:56 His whereabouts remained unknown.
00:59 In the video message posted on ex-formerly Twitter shortly after his arrest on May 11,
01:04 the 47-year-old journalist said that the space to talk is shrinking in the country and that
01:09 "I am being forced into silence.
01:10 I am leaving the country so that I can continue speaking," said the journalist, who is a
01:15 vocal supporter of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
01:18 Riaz Khan was detained under the charges of inciting people to violence through his reporting.
01:23 Imran was taken into custody under then-Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif's coalition government.
01:28 No one claimed responsibility for Khan's disappearance, but many believed that he was
01:32 abducted by security agencies controlled by the country's powerful army.
01:36 Khan's family approached the Lahore High Court to seek help in finding him.
01:40 After multiple hearings, the court on September 20 issued a last warning to the police to
01:44 present the missing journalist by Tuesday.
01:47 Pakistan has a checkered record regarding the safety of journalists and media freedom.
01:52 It was ranked 150th on the 2023 World Press Freedom Index, published by Reporters Without
01:58 Borders.
01:59 RSF had claimed in late May that it had received information from confidential diplomatic sources
02:04 that Riaz Khan was tortured and may even have died in detention.
02:09 Human rights groups have since condemned it as an enforced disappearance.
02:13 This comes as Sharif dissolved the parliament and his government in August, when its mandated
02:18 term ended and the Kirtika administration subsequently took charge to overseas elections
02:23 in Pakistan.
02:28 ♪♪