Five Intelligence Bureau officials were suspended from their services on Tuesday on allegations of detaining and torturing television host and journalist Iqrarul Hassan and his team when the latter tried to expose corruption within their ranks through his investigative show.

The incident came to light after pictures and videos of Hassan were widely shared on social media. The journalist, who hosts the TV show Sar-e-Aam on ARY News, is known for his sting operation style TV show, wherein he traces an illegal practice and airs it on their show. Hassan in the past has also been subjected to harassment and was also shot at, but this incident, according to him was “another feather in his work.”

As per one of the videos shared by his colleague and ARY host Waseem Badami, Hassan was brought to the Liaquat National Hospital in Karachi in the wee hours of Tuesday. In the video, a visibly hurt Hassan could be seen bandaged and wearing a neck brace.

“I and my team members were stripped naked, blindfolded and tortured for exposing the corruption of an IB inspector. IB officials also shot our videos after stripping me and my team members naked,” Hassan told ARY News.

Elaborating on his ordeal, the journalist alleged that he and his team were held hostage for more than three hours by the IB officers. According to Hassan, an officer of IB was taking bribe at the gate of the agency’s office and his team tried to report the incident to the high-ups. But, he claimed the senior IB officer Rizwan Shah manhandled his team and kept beating them and subjected them to torture, which included electric shocks.

“Our videos were made and they warned us of releasing the videos if we reported this [torture] incident,” he said, “We were treated as moles working for a foreign country.”

He added: “I got almost 8-10 stitches on my head due to the torture”.

Hassan said that a few members of his team were even given electric shocks to “sensitive” body parts and they were in critical condition. “I want to bring [to light] the video we shot at the IB office, but I learnt that it has been discarded by the agency officials.”

Following the incident, Deputy Director General IB Iftikhar Nabi Tunio suspended five officials “for mistreatment of ARY News team and mishandling” the situation.

“The suspended officers were Syed Mohiuddin Rizwan (Director, BPS-19), Mehmoob Ali (stenotypist), Inam Ali (stenotypist), Rajab Ali (sub-inspector) and Khawar,” read the official notification, a copy of which is available with Aaj News.

Reacting to the development, Hassan said: “I am thankful to the federal government for taking prompt action and suspending five officers involved in the incident.”

Condemnation

Following the development, journalists and social media users took to Twitter to condemn the incident.

PTI lawmaker and TV host Aamir Liaquat condemned the incident and requested PM Imran Khan to take notice of the incident.

One user said differences of opinion should be there but people should not opt for assault.

Shahbaz Rana said that journalism was not a crime and called for an end to such attacks.

Hamid Mir lamented that such attacks have increased over the last two years.