JournalismPakistan.com | Published March 20, 2018
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ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Tuesday slapped a three-month ban on Dr. Shahid Masood and his program and ordered that the NewsOne Television analyst submit a written apology.
The punishment came after the analyst’s false reporting about Imran Ali, the man who raped and murdered six-year-old Zainab in Kasur.
Dawn.com reported that Dr. Masood offered the court an unconditional apology which was dismissed. The paper quoted Chief Justice Saqib Nisar as saying: "I will not forgive you without punishment."
During one of his shows, the analyst had claimed that Imran Ali operated as part of a pornography ring. A Punjab minister was associated with it, he alleged. During an earlier hearing, he informed the court the rapist had 37 foreign bank accounts.
The CJP asked Masood to "suggest a punishment for himself or the court will ban him for six months." The presenter first suggested a ban for one month and then extended it to two months. However, the court banned him for three months.
At an earlier hearing on March 7, the Supreme Court had refused to accept Dr. Masood’s offer to apologize, saying it was too late to do so.
The analyst’s program Live with Dr. Shahid Masood was not aired Tuesday.
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