An Anti-Terrorism court in Gilgit has sent the President of Gilgit-Baltistan Supreme Appellate Court Bar Association, Advocate Ehsan Ali, for judicial remand until February 26 for a facebook post he had made.
The detention comes after an FIR was registered against the progressive human rights lawyer for sharing ‘derogatory content’ on social networking website Facebook.
The content in question had been a photograph related to the anti-government protests in Iran, along with an explanatory note, describing the rationale behind him sharing the post. Advocate Ehsan had come under fire immediately afterwards, as he was accused of sectarian hate speech and inciting violence between the different religious communities of the area.
Since then, the prominent lawyer has removed the content, and has apologised to the people who found the post derogatory, and whose sentiments were hurt. He later met prominent clerics in the region to explain his position and seek forgiveness.
However despite Advocate Ehsan’s efforts to make things right and to clarify the concerns of the people, pressure continued to mount against him and there even appeared wall chalking and posters calling for action against him.
The arrest has been made on the complaint of a resident of Khomer, Gilgit, who approached the police to register a case against the lawyer. He was presented before the ATC judge Raja Shahbaz Khan who sent him on judicial remand till Feb 26.