U of T student reportedly arrested in Pakistan over online activity

On Monday, Khan appeared in court for an initial hearing, where he was ordered by a judge to be held in custody for an additional 14 days.

A friend wrote online that Khan was completing a doctorate in political science at the University of Toronto and had also worked as a chartered accountant in Pakistan and the United Kingdom.

“He is a Canadian-Pakistani scholar presently in Pakistan undertaking field research for his thesis,” Syed Mudassir Ali wrote on Facebook.

“He is an exceptionally bright, principled and thoughtful individual who carries himself with integrity. His commitment to justice, dignity, and a better future for Pakistan is sincere and deeply rooted in his character.”

A U of T graduate student directory listing for Khan says his research examines “the politics of democracy promotion in Muslim majority societies.”

“In particular, he studies the relationship between political religion and secularism and its implications for democratization and fundamental rights.”

“We are very concerned about University of Toronto PhD student Hamza Khan,” U of T vice provost Sandy Welsh told the Star in a statement Tuesday. “Our priority is his safety and well-being. We are in contact with his family and Canadian officials to support his return to Canada.”

Global Affairs Canada, the federal government department that provides consular assistance to Canadians abroad, including those in foreign detention, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ali Usman Qasi, an associate professor of humanities and social sciences at Lahore University of Management Sciences, wrote on X that he had met with Khan a day before he went missing.

“I strongly disagree with many of Hamza’s political views, but what I despise most is that he has been picked up for them,” he wrote.

“We spoke candidly for an hour and left with a better understanding of where the other was coming from. This is why dialogue matters and why reaching across the political spectrum is essential.”

Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that Khan was arrested by the federal National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency due to his online activity.

Dawn said it obtained a police report that said investigators are looking into social media posts thought to be “inflammatory” and “designed to incite public unrest, anonymity and undermine social order.”

The document, known as a First Information Report, reportedly references three sections of Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, a 2016 law that was criticized by Amnesty International last year as a “draconian” tool that has been used to silence and intimidate journalists, human rights defenders and political opposition.

They include offences against the dignity of a natural person, cyber-stalking and spoofing.

The first section of the act cited prohibits publishing information about a person that is false or harmful. The second deals with online coercion, intimidation or harassment. The spoofing provisions of the act makes it a crime to publish counterfeit, or fake, news.

The Dawn report about the case against Khan does not mention specific posts or publications alleged to run afoul of the law.

But an X account identified as Khan’s by friends and acquaintances contains dozens of posts critical of the Pakistani government and top elected officials.

They include general criticism of the decision of the Pakistani government to become a member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s recently unveiled Board of Peace.

They are also specifically critical of Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan Army Chief of Staff Asim Munir and of Bilawal Bhutto Zardai, the son of assassinated prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Zardai’s name appeared in the recently released Jeffrey Epstein files in relation to a 2011 dinner with the deceased financier and sex criminal.

The bulk of the Khan’s recent online activity relates to the fate of jailed former Pakistan prime minister and former cricket star Imran Khan.

Khan, who has been charged with numerous counts of corruption, is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence. He has maintained his innocence and alleged political persecution by the ruling Sharif government.

In December, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture called attention to the “inhumane and undignified” conditions of the 72-year-old political leader’s detention, which include excessive periods of solitary confinement, constant surveillance and extreme temperatures.

Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (TTAP), an alliance of Pakistan’s opposition political parties that includes Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has devoted much of its attention to the plight of the politician.

But now it is also denouncing the treatment of the U of T student carrying out research in the country.

“The right to pursue academic research and express scholarly views is fundamental in any democratic society,” TTAP wrote on X over the weekend. “Silencing researchers through harassment or forced absence undermines intellectual freedom and weakens institutions. Hamza Khan deserves fairness, safety, and the opportunity to continue his academic work without fear.”