Syed Iqrarul Hassan, a well-known Pakistani news anchor, and his colleagues were on Tuesday detained by the country's intelligence officials and were subjected to severe physical assaults, including beating, stripped naked, blindfolded, after they tried trying to expose corruption within the intelligence agency. 

Hassan, an anchor in Pakistan’s ARY News, was arrested in Karachi when he tried to shoot a video of an official of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) taking bribes. Wassem Badami, a friend of Hassan, also a TV journalist, confirmed the incident.    

His bloodied photograph showing him with torn-up clothes on a hospital bed seeking treatment went viral on social media, drawing condemnation from both the media fraternity as well as the government. 

He confirmed to ARY News that he and his team members were "stripped naked, blindfolded and tortured for exposing the corruption of an IB inspector". He further alleged that IB officials also shot videos of him after stripping him and his team members naked.

Reports claimed they were tortured by intelligence personnel for three hours. "I got almost 8-10 stitches on my head due to the torture," Hassan was quoted as saying by Dawn. A few members of his team were even given electric shocks to "sensitive" body parts, Dawn reported him saying. 

Five officials of the Intelligence Bureau involved in the incidents have been suspended by the government following the incident. 

Hamid Mir, one of the most prominent journalists in the country, condemned the incident. “The current era is worse than the previous ones,” he said, adding that the incident reminded him of the days when journalists were brutally manhandled in Islamabad and Lahore.

Last year Mir was among many senior journalists who were threatened and taken off air after they took part in a rally, criticizing the growing attacks on journalists allegedly by intelligence operatives.   

The International Press Institute (IPI), in a December 2021 report, said: "A large part of the media sector in Pakistan is facing serious threats as the government has shown increasing intolerance to critical journalism and as radical political actors regularly attack media outlets and journalists. The armed forces have also played a key role in stifling press freedom in the country. Cases of abduction, physical attacks, and torture of journalists have become commonplace."

(SAM)