ISLAMABAD: US blogger Cynthia Dawn Ritchie’s stay in Pakistan has been extended till November 13.
The Islamabad High Court was hearing Ritchie’s plea challenging her deportation by the Ministry of Interior. The notification has been suspended and her lawyers given till November 13 to submit their arguments.
Chief Justice Athar Minallah also heard PPP’s Rehman Malik’s application on the registration of a case against Ritchie for ‘maligning’ him. His application was earlier dismissed by a sessions court.
He had filed a request at a district and sessions court in Islamabad under the Offence of Qazf (Enforcement of Hadd) Ordinance, 1979.
The Ordinance relates to “Whoever by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes an imputation of zina concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm the reputation, or hurt the feelings, of such person, is said except in the cases hereinafter excepted, to commit qazf”.
The court issued notices to Ritchie in the case which were received by her lawyer Ahmad Raza Khan Kasuri.
Ritchie, who identifies herself as a media director and producer, has accused the former interior minister of raping her, and former PM Yousaf Raza Gilani and Makhdoom Shahabuddin of manhandling her in 2011. The accusation has been denied by the PPP leaders.
“In 2011, I was raped by the former interior minister Rehman Malik. That’s right. I’ll say it again. I was raped by then interior minister Rehman Malik,” she said in a Facebook Live session on June 6.
Later, she wrote in a post that the “incident” occurred at the “IM’s house in ministers’ enclave in 2011” around the time of Osama Bin Laden’s assassination. “I thought it was a meeting about my visa but I was given flowers/ a drugged drink. I kept quiet.” She claimed that her family was recently attacked and she is “ready to face any accuser” now.
On May 29, multiple PPP workers had filed complaints against Ritchie on May 29. A letter was written to the FIA’s Islamabad office by PPP District President Advocate Shakeel Abbasi, urging the agency to take action against Ritchie. The letter, dated May 28, 2020, called the blogger’s remarks “extremely derogatory and slanderous”.
