Missing Pakistani journalist Imran Riaz Khan 'safely recovered’ after 4 months

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Prominent Pakistani journalist and anchorperson Imran Riaz Khan, missing for more than four months, returned home on Monday, his lawyer and police said.

He was arrested at an airport in the Sialkot city of Punjab as he tried to leave the country after May 9 protests over former Prime Minister Imran Khan's arrest. The two are not related.

He was said to have been freed a few days later, but there was no trace of him and police denied keeping him in custody.

The YouTuber's family approached the Lahore High Court to determine his whereabouts, and after multiple hearings, the court gave police a deadline to present the missing journalist by Tuesday. International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, other rights groups and Pakistan’s journalist community had demanded his release.

Khan has been "safely recovered. He is now with his family," Sialkot police said in a post on X, without offering further details.

His lawyer Mian Ali Ashfaq said on X that the recovery took a long time due to "countless difficulties, a weak judiciary" and the ineffectiveness of the Constitution. He also shared a photo of him with Khan.

Media watchdog Freedom Network welcomed Khan's return from "illegal captivity" and called for accountability of those responsible for his disappearance.

A Pakistani court, meanwhile, ordered the government to shift ex-Premier Imran Khan to Adiala jail near the capital Islamabad from Attock. His conviction in a corruption case was overturned, but remains in jail in a case over exposing state secrets.

Imran Khan was ousted through a no-trust vote in April last year, and is facing a string of cases, which he terms are politically motivated.