Pakistani journalist Bilal Farooqi released

Pakistani journalist Bilal Farooqi was released on Saturday, hours after he was picked up by police from outside his home in Karachi on Friday evening.

Barrister Murtaza Wahab, adviser to Sindh chief minister on law, tweeted that the News Editor at The Express Tribune, had been released and that he was being taken back to his residence by police.

According to The Express Tribune, Bilal’s friends and colleagues said he was freed on the ‘personal bail’ of his lawyer Jibran Nasir.

Tashfeen Farooqi, the wife of Bilal Farooqi, earlier told The Express Tribune that her husband was taken away by the police from outside their home in Defence View, Phase 2.

“The court asked the police if a FIR (first information report) does not stand ground, who has given you authority to pick up people from home,” Ghulam Shabbir, Farooqi’s lawyer told Reuters.