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Karachi’s Additional Sessions Court has sentenced filmmaker Jamshed Mehmood Raza, known as Jami, to two years in prison and fined Rs10,000 in a defamation case filed by fellow director Sohail Javed.
The case dates back to February 2019, when Jami read a letter written by an anonymous sexual assault survivor at the Lahooti Melo festival in Jamshoro, which had a #MeToo theme. Later, Jami shared the letter on his Facebook account.
The letter accused an unnamed “popular filmmaker” of assault. Though Jami never named anyone, Javed claimed that comments on the Facebook post led people to believe he was the accused, and Jami did not deny or clarify the assumption.
Javed said that specific details in the letter – such as the abuser being a music video and TVC director, having a 23 or 24-year-old son, and being a panelist at a festival in Hyderabad – made it easy for people to guess his identity.
He sent Jami a legal notice demanding a public apology. Jami refused, and Javed filed a defamation case, seeking Rs1 billion in damages – Rs500 million for defamation and another Rs500 million for mental distress.
In court, Jami claimed he was handed the letter by the festival organizer and didn’t know its content before reading it. He argued he acted in good faith as a filmmaker and activist and deleted the post and deactivated his account once he saw Javed’s name mentioned in the comments.
However, the court ruled that Jami’s statements lacked evidence. He failed to present the letter’s author or any proof of communication with festival organizers. The court said that even if he deleted the post later, the damage was already done.
The judge also noted that Jami did not testify under oath or bring any evidence to support his defence.
Jami has been convicted under Section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code (defamation) and sentenced to two years in prison and a Rs10,000 fine.
