Probing Attacks on Journalists: Investigative Analysis of PECA's Post-Amendment 2025 Cases

Summary

This investigative analysis by the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), a Pakistani digital rights organisation, examines how the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) has been used against journalists since its amendment in January 2025. Its central argument is that PECA, introduced in 2016 to protect people from cybercrime, has shifted away from that purpose and is now used to harass, intimidate and silence critics, with journalists and media workers as its primary targets.

DRF sets out the legal protections that should apply: Article 19 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press subject to reasonable restrictions; Article 19A on the right to information; the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act, 2021; Islamabad High Court rulings that quashed cybercrime notices against journalists; and Pakistan's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It notes that Pakistan ranked 158th of 180 countries in the 2025 global press freedom index.

The analysis focuses on section 26-A, added by the PECA (Amendment) Act, 2025, which punishes intentionally spreading information one knows or has reason to believe is "false or fake" and likely to cause fear, panic, disorder or unrest, with up to three years' imprisonment, a fine of up to two million rupees, or both. DRF points out that neither the amendment nor the original Act defines "fake" or "likely to cause unrest," leaving wide discretion to the authorities, and that journalists now face FIRs, notices, summons, arrests and long investigations in big cities and small districts alike.

The report documents cases from 2025. Farhan Mallick, founder of the media agency Raftar, was arrested in Karachi by the Federal Investigation Agency over allegedly "anti-state" content and booked under PECA sections 16, 20 and 26-A. Waheed Murad was taken from his home in Islamabad in March and charged under sections 9, 10, 20 and 26-A over posts on Facebook and X. A case was registered in Sukkur against Muneeb Indhar under section 20 for remarks about President Asif Ali Zardari. In July, a magistrate in Islamabad ordered 27 YouTube channels, including some run by journalists, blocked under section 37 at the request of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency; a sessions judge set that order aside in September for lack of jurisdiction. In August, the agency registered a case against Khalid Jamil under sections 20 and 26-A, and local officials in Vehari and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa filed complaints against reporters who had alleged corruption.

DRF concludes that critical reporting is now treated as a potential "fake news" offence and calls for urgent reform of PECA to remove its ambiguous provisions. It points to other countries' reforms as models, including Jamaica's abolition of criminal defamation in 2013, Ghana's repeal of criminal libel in 2001, and Colombia's protection programme for journalists at risk.

Summary written by a Silenced editor from the report itself (462 words). Quotes and figures are the report's; read the full report for its sources and context.