Pakistani reporter to file appeal next week

KABUL (Pajhwok): A court in eastern Nangarhar province will take up next week Pakistani journalist Faizullah Khan’s appeal against his conviction and four-year jail sentence, a report said on Wednesday.

The Karachi-based reporter with television channel had gone missing from the tribal area on April 22 during a reporting trip. He was detained in eastern Kunar province for illegally crossing the border.

Later, the journalist was tried and convicted by a Nangarhar-based court, which sentenced him to four years in jail but dropped the charge against Faizullah that he was spying for Pakistani intelligence and meeting militants.

The foreign affairs ministry disclosed this before the Sindh High Court (SHC) bench which was hearing petition filed by the journalist’s wife seeking his recovery from the custody of Afghan security forces.

In Karachi, the Foreign Office informed a two-judge bench of the Sindh High Court it was making efforts for the reporter’s release. The Pakistani consul-general had hired a Jalalabad-based law firm to file an appeal against the conviction, the court was told.

The Pakistani consulate has paid the law firm id=”mce_marker”,000 for filing the appeal against Faizullah’s conviction before the Nangarhar Court of Appeals. The Pakistan ambassador and consul-general have already met court officials on the issue.

PAN Monitoring

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