A Canadian PhD student working on his dissertation in Pakistan has been arrested over his social media posts.
Hamza Ahmed Khan, a dual Canadian-Pakistani citizen, traveled to Pakistan in December to interview expats on promoting democracy in Muslim-majority Lahore, where he was staying with a friend, and in Islamabad, CBC reports.
The University of Toronto student was expected to arrive in Karachi on Thursday morning to spend Ramadan with his family, but friends have said he went missing early that day during a trip with ride-hailing service Yango.
When family members then reached out to the ride-sharing app, they were told Ahmed Khan's trip was canceled halfway through.
The family was then left without any answers as to Ahmed Khan's whereabouts for days, until a Pakistani journalist announced on Sunday that the student was in jail after the country's National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency detained him.
Attorney Asad Jamal said Ahmed Khan was 'abducted,' not arrested, because it wasn't done the 'right, legal way.'
'He was not informed about the circumstances and the reasons for being taken into custody by whoever did that,' said Jamal, who has been retained by Ahmed Khan's family.
'We don't know who took him away,' he added. 'We suspect that intelligence agencies might have been involved.'
Hamza Ahmed Khan, a dual Canadian-Pakistani citizen, has been arrested in Pakistan over his social media posts.
The NCCIA's official report said Ahmed Khan has been in custody since Saturday because, during a routine cyber patrol, the agency found his X and Instagram accounts were 'disseminating misinformation and disinformation targeting state institutions.'
'The nature of these posts is inflammatory and appears designed to incite public unrest, spread animosity and undermine social order,' the report said, according to Dawn.
It then went on to say Ahmed Khan was posting derogatory content to 'defame and malign constitutional and political leadership of Pakistan, incite hatred and undermine the integrity of the state.'
'The propagation of such malicious content poses a significant risk, with the potential to cause severe reputational damage to the state of Pakistan both domestically and internationally.'
The report also lists offenses Ahmed Khan allegedly committed, including offenses against the dignity of a natural person, cyber stalking and spoofing of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.
A review of Ahmed Khan's X page shows he repeatedly shared his support for former Prime Minister Imran Khan's release from prison, and on February 18, just one day before he went missing, he shared a post from Al Jazeera English that Pakistan's Punjab police killed 900 people in eight months.
That same day, he also reposted a comment saying 'Imran Khan deserves his freedom.'
'And Pakistan deserves better: Rule of law - not rule of the powers that be.'
A review of Ahmed Khan's X page shows he repeatedly shared his support for former Prime Minister Imran Khan's release from prison , and on February 18, just one day before he went missing, he shared a post from Al Jazeera English that Pakistan's Punjab police killed 900 people in eight months
But his brother, Awes Ahmed Khan has disputed the government's characterization, saying his brother is balanced and simply uses social media as a means to engage in intellectual discussion.
'He's a person who's very articulate. He talks with rhetoric,' Awes told CBC.
'He debates with people sometimes on critical issues and a lot of times, those issues are related to his background.'
Pakistan has been under a cycle of military dictatorships and weak civilian governance for decades.
'Anything that the rulers perceived to contribute to an outcome that will undermine their position will be pulled up as [a] crime and then they will be detained, like [Ahmed Khan],' McMaster University professor Ahmed Shafiqul Huque said.
'Depending on the kind of belief he holds and the kind of research he was undertaking, it might have rubbed a number of important people in Pakistan the wrong way.'
The professor noted that electronic crime prevention acts are a common strategy among military dictatorships.
'They try to jump at every potential case where there might be people speaking out about what is going on in the system,' Huque said.
'There is a gap between the rules and reality, and many people fall between those gaps.'
University of Toronto officials said they are concerned about their student's well-being
Ahmed Khan is now being held in Lahore district jail under the country's 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, where Awes said his brother is facing 'the worst conditions that you can imagine.'
'It's multiple people in a single cell... It's [not] fit for a decent human person,' he said, describing his brother as 'one of the finest human beings that you know.'
Global Affairs Canada told the CBC it was aware of the situation, but could not provide any further information due to privacy concerns.
University of Toronto vice provost Sandy Welsh also said in a statement that school officials are concerned about their student.
'Our priority is his safety and well-being and we are in contact with his family and Canadian officials to support his return to Canada,' she said.
Ahmed Khan is now set to attend a bail hearing in Lahore on Wednesday at 11am local time.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency and Yango for comment.