Arrest warrants issued in the Ali Zafar defamation case

KARACHI: The Ali Zafar defamation court case saga continues and this time a Lahore court has not only summoned Meesha Shafi but has also rejected the exemption from personal appearance of four parties involved in the criminal case that has been registered under the cybercrime law by Ali Zafar.

The court passed the order after the suspects in the case failed to appear before the court on Tuesday. The suspects involved in the case include Iffat Omar, Leena Ghani, Faizan Raza, Fariha Ayub and Haseemur Zaman, all of whom had filed an application that sought exemption from personal appearance in court. The basis of their application was that all the suspects resided in Karachi and their jobs are based in Karachi as well and so for them to appear for every hearing in Lahore will prove to be difficult. Iffat Omar, who had made a statement that Shafi had told her about the sexual abuse incident, also sought a one-off exemption based on a personal situation in Karachi.

However, Magistrate Yousaf Abdul Rehman rejected the applications and instead issued bailable arrest warrants for Iffat Omar and a non-bailable arrest warrant for Ali Gul Pir. Pir was involved in the case for making a tweet calling Zafar an alleged abuser

Ali Gul Pir took to Twitter posting his response to the recent arrest warrant.