Islamabad court orders FIA to initiate probe against Cynthia Ritchie for tweets on Benazir.

An Islamabad additional district and sessions judge on Monday directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to conduct an inquiry against US blogger Cynthia D. Ritchie for allegedly defaming former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on social media.

The court was hearing a petition filed by PPP leader Advocate Raja Shakeel Abbasi, who sought registration of a criminal case against Ritchie. Abbasi had filed the petition under Section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code, under which a judge may direct the investigation agency to register a first information report.

The ruling, issued by additional sessions judge Jehangir Awan today, noted that Ritchie had not denied that she had posted the tweet and "hence, a crime has been committed falling under Peca Act 2016". The FIA is, therefore, "competent" to probe the matter further in accordance with the law.

"FIA is directed to proceed in accordance with the law, conduct an inquiry and if there is sufficient material, register an FIR," the verdict read.

The court also observed that the allegations against Benazir were made 12 years after the PPP leader's assassination and that the US blogger "never agitated this fact before any competent authority and even not disclosed on the media".

"So, at this stage after lapse of 12 years, her [Ritchie's] disclosure to malign the character of deceased leader is apparently based on mala fide."

Addressing an argument raised by the FIA earlier that under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, only "aggrieved" persons were qualified to file such a petition, the ruling said that "in the present scenario [...] word 'aggrieved' is used instead of 'legal heirs'". The court said that Benazir was "leader of millions and ex-prime minister of Pakistan, thus anyone from her followers can be treated as aggrieved person".

Soon after the court issued its verdict, Ritchie said her lawyer Nasir Khan had "misrepresented" her by telling the court that the tweet was fake.

"I NEVER said my tweets were fake," she tweeted and added that...