Canadian academic Hamza Ahmed Khan reported missing in Pakistan; later arrested for social media posts

Hamza Ahmad Khan, a Pakistani-Canadian citizen and doctoral scholar at the University of Toronto, disappeared in Lahore on February 19. He had been living with friends since traveling to Pakistan on February 13. Subsequently, Pakistani media reports confirmed that Khan was arrested and appeared in court for a preliminary hearing and was sentenced to 14 days of detention. Khan’s mysterious disappearance caused an uproar in the academic community until news of his arrest was discovered. Ali Usman Qasi, an associate professor of humanities and social sciences at Lahore University of Management Sciences, wrote on X that he met Khan the day before he disappeared. “I strongly disagree with many of Hamza’s political views, but what I despise most is that he was chosen because of them,” he wrote.“We talked candidly for an hour, and we came away with a better understanding of each other’s thinking. That’s why dialogue is important, why it’s critical to reach across the political spectrum.”

Who is Hamza Ahmed Khan? Why was he arrested in Pakistan?

Khan is a Canadian-Pakistani academic who traveled to Pakistan to conduct field research and write a paper titled “The Politics of Democracy Promotion in Muslim-Majority Societies.” He is pursuing his PhD at the University of Toronto. He has worked as a Chartered Accountant in Pakistan and the United Kingdom. Khan was arrested by the Federal National Cyber ​​Crime Investigation Agency for his online activities, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.Pakistani authorities said they were investigating Khan’s “inflammatory” social media posts “aimed at inciting public disorder.” The Toronto Star discovered an X account believed to be Khan’s, which had published dozens of posts critical of the Pakistani government, although the complaint against Khan did not mention any specific posts.Khan spoke about Imran Khan, Pakistan being part of Donald Trump’s peace committee and more in his recent posts. Most of them criticized Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan Army Chief of Staff Asim Munir and Bilawal Bhutto Zardai, the son of assassinated Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.