ISLAMABAD: Jang and\nGeo Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman\u2019s arrest in a 34 years old\nproperty case is among the \u201cmost urgent\u201d cases of threats to Press Freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The arrest has been\nhighlighted in the TIME magazine list of 10 most urgent cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIME says that as\nthe coronavirus continues to spread throughout the world, some prisons and\ndetention facilities have become hot spots for virus outbreaks. For some\njournalists imprisoned on charges related to their work, this means COVID-19\nhas become even more life-threatening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pointing out the\nJang\/Geo Editor-in-Chief\u2019s arrest, the world\u2019s distinguished magazine says that\n\u201cto silence criticism of pandemic preparedness, government targets broadcast\noutlet and its CEO.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TIME says the\nEditor-in-Chief of Jang Media Group, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, was arrested on\nMarch 12 over a case involving allegations that he illegally acquired land in\n1986. The next day, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority ordered\ncable distributors throughout the country to stop transmitting Geo TV, which is\nowned by the Jang Media Group and is the nation\u2019s largest TV news channel, or\nmove its broadcasts to a higher, harder-to-find channel. Despite no charges\nfiled, Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman was denied bail on April 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list is\nmaintained monthly by the One Free Press Coalition, a collective of nearly 40\nnews organisations, including TIME.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ahead of World Press\nFreedom Day on May 3, the One Free Press Coalition calls for the immediate\nrelease of all jailed journalists. \u201cIn light of the threat posed by\ncoronavirus, their freedom is now a matter of life or death,\u201d says the\ncoalition in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other nine cases of\njournalists on May\u2019s list are 1. Azimjon Askarov (Kyrgyzstan), Abdulkhaleq\nAmran, Akram al-Waleedi, Hareth Hameed and Tawfiq al-Mansouri (Yemen), 3. Mahmoud\nal-Jaziri (Bahrain), 4. Solafa Magdy (Egypt), 5. Darvinson Rojas (Venezuela),\n6. Truong Duy Nhat (Vietnam), 7. Elena Milashina (Russia), 8. Yayesew Shimelis\n(Ethiopia), 9. Jamal Khashoggi (Saudi Arabia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newspaper: The\nNews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: Jang and Geo Group Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman’s arrest in a 34 years old property case is among the “most urgent” cases of threats to Press Freedom. The arrest has been highlighted in the TIME magazine list of 10 most urgent cases. TIME says that as the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the world, some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[4],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8955"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8955\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pakistanfoemonitor.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}