FIA directed to register case against Cynthia Ritchie

A lower court in Islamabad Monday ordered the Federal Investigation Agency to register a case against US blogger Cynthia Ritchie who has levelled rape and harassment allegations against the PPP leadership.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (ASJ) Jahangir Awan directed the FIA to register a case against the US blogger on a petition filed by PPP Islamabad President Shakeel Abbasi.

The petition stated that Ritchie had made baseless allegations against ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto and a case should be registered against her.

During Saturday’s hearing, Ritchie’s lawyer had asked the court not to file the case. The FIA and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had requested the court to dismiss the plea against the US blogger. The FIA had told the court that the petitioner was not the targeted victim or guardian of the victim so the agency could not lodge a complaint. On the other hand, the counsel for the petitioner argued that due to the nature of tweets, the PPP was the aggrieved party.

To this, the court asked why the heirs of late Benazir Bhutto were not lodging a complaint. In a tweet US blogger Ritchie had levelled serious allegations against the former premier Benazir Bhutto and former president Asif Ali Zardari.

When Pakistan People’s Party retaliated with full force against the US blogger, she responded with serious allegations against the PPP’s top leadership including another former premier Yousaf Raza Gillani.

In her video message, Ritchie had accused senior PPP leader Senator Rehman Malik of rape and said that the incident happened in 2011 when Malik was interior minister.

She had also claimed that former health minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin had also abused her, while former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also touched her improperly while he was in the Presidency.