Silenced

Online speech and its consequences in Pakistan, 2016 to present

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PECA Section 10: Cyber terrorism

Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016 (as amended in 2025)

What this section covers

Official heading: Cyber terrorism

Offences under sections 6 to 9 of PECA (and similar acts) committed to coerce or intimidate the government or the public, create a sense of fear, or advance inter-faith, sectarian or ethnic hatred.

Maximum penalty: Up to 14 years, or fine up to Rs50 million, or both

Part of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016 (as amended in 2025). Pakistan's cybercrime law, passed in 2016. It makes offences of things done through phones, computers and the internet, including online defamation (section 20), glorifying terrorism (section 9), cyber terrorism (section 10) and, since 2025, spreading 'false or fake' information (section 26-A). It also lets the authorities order online content removed or blocked (section 37).

A plain-language explanation, not legal advice. The official text always takes precedence.

Official text

The official consolidated text, published by the Ministry of Law and Justice on Pakistan Code:

Read Section 10 in the official text ↗

Recent incidents citing this law

The following verified cases are currently mapped on Silenced under this law.

7 verified incidents whose report cites Section 10. Citations are read automatically from news reports and can be incomplete; inclusion does not verify the allegation.

  1. Court dismisses plea against remand of anchor Iqrarul Hassan

    · Karachi, Sindh · Speech Consequences · Arrest · Law cited: PECA 9, 10, 24, 26-A, 63

    At the outset of the hearing, defence counsel Barrister Mian Ali Ashfaq submitted that his client had been arrested at his house in Lahore against a case registered on the basis of a source report that he allegedly criticised the imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a video uploaded to… During the proceedings, Mr Hassan’s wife Farah took the witness box and informed the court about her husband’s arrest claiming that the investigating officer was not present at the time of the arrest.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  2. Bar association calls meeting after 400 lawyers demand urgent hearing of Imaan, Hadi’s sentence suspension pleas

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Speech Consequences · Arrest · Law cited: PECA 10

    Source reports a detention linked to online activity: "ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) on Wednesday called a meeting of its general body — scheduled for April 21 — after around 400 signed a resolution calling for an urgent hearing of sentence suspension pleas filed by human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, over…"

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  3. ریاست مخالف مواد پھیلانے کا الزام؛ جوائنٹ ایکشن کمیٹی کے سرگرم رکن کیخلاف پیکا ایکٹ کے تحت مقدمہ درج

    · Azad Jammu and Kashmir · Speech Consequences · FIR · Law cited: PECA 9, 10, 11, 26-A

    ماخذ کے مطابق آن لائن سرگرمی سے منسلک مقدمہ کی اطلاع: «تحقیقات میں یہ بات سامنے آئی کہ ملزم نے سوشل میڈیا پلیٹ فارمز فیس بک، ٹویٹر اور ٹک ٹاک پر ریاستی اداروں بالخصوص پاک فوج اور حکومتی افسران کے خلاف منفی اور اشتعال انگیز مواد پھیلایا۔»

    View on map · Daily Express ↗

  4. Journalists, vloggers among 150 booked under Peca

    · Lahore, Punjab · Speech Consequences · FIR · Law cited: PECA 9, 10, 11, 24

    The FIA Cybercrime Wing has so far arrested over 20 social media activists across the country for controversial posts about alleged deaths during the crackdown. The arrests come after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the formation of a joint task force to track down those responsible for spreading what officials called “fake news” about the protest deaths.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  5. Project Peca III: What goes around, comes around

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Speech Consequences · Arrest · Law cited: PECA 10, 11, 13, 20, 21, 24, 37; PPC 124-A, 131, 500, 501, 505

    The year 2020 began on the heels of sedition cases against the Student Solidarity March organisers in December 2019 and PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen’s arrest in January, followed by the arrests of MNAs Mohsin Dawar and Ali Wazir as well as those of several AWP leaders. In the case of Umair Solangi, Executive Editor of AwamiKhabarnama.com , he tweeted that he was illegally detained by the FIA who picked him up at 9pm on October 21, 2020, releasing him the next day in the early hours at around 4am.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  6. Project Peca II: A weapon of mass intimidation

    · Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa · Speech Consequences · Death · Law cited: PECA 9, 10, 11, 20; PPC 500, 505

    The PTM’s jalsas gained momentum across the country, agitating the issue of missing persons and enforced disappearances, which also led to clampdowns on their protests, and FIRs and arrests against organisers and participants. In July 2018, rights activist Hayat Preghal was taken into custody, charged under sections 9 and 10 of Peca, along with sections 500 and 109 of the PPC for allegedly posting content “critical of Pakistani state policies” on social media.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

  7. Project Peca I: How to silence a nation

    · Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory · Blasphemy Cases · Blasphemy · Law cited: PECA 9, 10, 11, 20, 24; PPC 500, 501, 505

    The Pakistani state has a long history of using legal and illegal measures [enforced disappearances, for instance] to ensure everyone toes the line and protect the status quo. Swati is also not the first politician to be arrested for making “remarks against institutions” on social media.

    View on map · Dawn ↗

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