Lahore HC grants bail to journalist Imran Riaz Khan

Lahore [Pakistan], July 9 : Lahore High Court has granted bail to senior journalist Imran Riaz Khan in a case registered against him in Punjab's Chakwal city, local media reported.
The court adjourned the hearing on the plea for the expulsion of cases till July 19 and also directed Khan to appear before the magistrate on the next working day, ARY News reported.
Imran Riaz assured the court and said, "I am also assuring the court that I will not deliver such statements again."
After listening to the arguments, the LHC approved Imran Riaz Khan's bail on personal surety bonds.
Azhar Siddique Advocate said in a statement, "It is not a fight against the national institutions. After Attock, the matter of judicial magistrate has also ended. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has given its statement that it was not going to register any case."
He detailed that the actual crime of the journalist was using the word 'imported government'.
The journalist was given 10 days to submit the reply, Siddique said adding that all cases will be clubbed in the coming days for hearings, according to ARY News.
Azhar Siddique said that the real face of the present government has been exposed before the nation.
Earlier, journalist Imran Riaz Khan has been handed to the Lahore's Crime Investigation agency in a case lodged against him at the civil lines police station.
An official said that the police handed over the journalist to the CIA Kotwali police for interrogation. He is likely to be presented before the duty magistrate on Saturday, Dawn reported.
The case was filed by a local resident of Lahore, Muhammad Asif, on charges of abetment of mutiny and criticism of state institutions.
On Tuesday night, journalist Imran Riaz Khan was heading towards Islamabad to acquire a pre-arrest bail from the High Court, when he was arrested by the Attock police, Dawn reported.
Later, in the wee hours of Thursday, the anchorperson was granted relief by the local court but was immediately arrested by a team of Chakwal police outside the courtroom.
Before shifting him to Lahore, a local court of Chakwal district had allowed his judicial remand.
In the latest First Information Report (FIR) against Khan, the complainant alleged that Imran Riaz accused the army of violating human rights and damaging the state by indulging in politics, according to Dawn.
Asif further said Khan had accused the army and said that they had put Pakistan's integrity at stake, adding that the journalist committed an offence by inciting officers and other personnel of the army.
The complainant mentioned that recently Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had been awarded army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa with the King Abdulaziz Medal for making "significant contributions to defence cooperation" between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Asif alleged in the FIR that the journalist also mocked the Saudi government's decision in his video.