LAHORE: Lahore High Court on Wednesday dismissed the bail application filed by Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, Jang/Geo Media Group Editor-in-Chief, allowing his continued arrest without a formal trial in a case relating to a property transaction that took place 34 years ago.
A two-member bench of the High Court, comprising Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem and Justice Farooq Haider, took the decision after hearing the concluding arguments.
In today’s hearing, MSR’s advocate Amjad Pervez had completed his arguments for the allowance of bail, highlighting that, despite the flimsy and concocted nature of the case, MSR had continued cooperating with the investigation and presents no risk due to which bail can be denied.
The NAB prosecutor, too, presented his arguments, after which the court recessed for 10 minutes before the judgement to deny bail was announced.
Meanwhile, Supreme Court Bar Association and Pakistan Bar Council leaders condemned the dismissal of MSR’s bail plea by the LHC.
In a joint statement, PBC Vice Chairman Abid Saqi and SCBA President Syed Qalbe Hasan called the move to turn down the bail plea ‘disappointing and painful’.
After the LHC decision, protests were held in Sargodha and Peshawar against the rejection of the bail plea by the media group owner.
The protesters demanded that MSR should not be kept under illegal detention anymore and released soon, Geo News reported.
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