The Federal Investigation Agency plans to investigate the mobile phone hacking of Supreme Court senior judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa. A special technical team of forensic and cyber experts will identify the hackers, their reasons and modes of hacking and possible leakage of phone data (emails, messages, etc), officials were quoted as saying by the publication.
The attack on one of the senior most judges of the Supreme Court and one most disliked by this govt, Justice Qazi Faez Isa is relentless. After attempting to soil his reputation, his phone hacking is the latest example of what happens to those who stand for the constitution. pic.twitter.com/Zoz6TaTuP8
— Syed Talat Hussain (@TalatHussain12) February 2, 2021
A day earlier, the top court’s public relations office had said in a statement that Justice Isa’s cell phone had been hacked.
In the statement, the office said: “It is intimated to all and sundry that the cell phone of Hon’ble Justice Qazi Faez Isa has been hacked.”
The statement said that there is “suspicion” that “misguiding communication” could be relayed via the judge’s mobile phone. “There is suspicion that misguiding communication can be made from his lordship’s number to anyone with ulterior motives, therefore, the communication purportedly made from his lordship’s cell phone, which his lordship had not sent may be treated as fake and false,” the statement added.
Read More: Can illegally collected material be used against a judge?
Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court of Pakistan took oath as a judge of the apex court in 2014. He is viewed by many to be “an uncompromising bastion of justice in the country.” He has always held the principle that “no one is above the law,” something which has been reflected in his work over the years.
What does the FIA team plan to do?
The FIA special team will focus on whether any e-mails, messages and data was stolen by the hackers, officials said.
#Pakistan's FIA to investigate the hacking of Supreme Court Justice Qazi Faez Isa's cell phone and determine the identity and motives of the perpetratorshttps://t.co/5NcMasfSvX
— Pakistan Standard (@PakStandard) February 3, 2021
Information from the phone will likely be retrieved from FIA’s forensics laboratory, said an FIA official.
The FIA team’s head has not been picked yet. It is also unclear how much of Justice Isa’s data has been lost.
On Tuesday, Supreme Court Registrar Khawaja Daud Ahmad requested FIA Director-General Wajid Zia to form a team of experts to investigate the phone hacking.
Justice Isa facing consequences for his uprightness?
Justice Isa is said to be facing ‘consequences’ after he delivered a strong-worded verdict in the Faizabad sit-in case. The judgment authored by Justice Isa drew some broad and important conclusions. For example, the court has directed the federal and provincial governments to monitor and prosecute those advocating hate, extremism, and terrorism. It also ordered the government ─ through the defense ministry and respective chiefs of the armed forces ─ to initiate action against armed forces’ personnel found to have violated their oath.
The judgment further states that any person who issues an edict or fatwa that “harms another or puts another in harm’s way must be criminally prosecuted under the Pakistan Penal Code, the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, and/or the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.”
Read More: Justice Faez Isa case: Where did Asset Recovery Unit (ARU) received funds from? SC
Finally, the judgment states that Inter-Services Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau, Military Intelligence and the Inter-Services Public Relations “must not exceed their respective mandates”. It also reinforced the idea of freedom of speech which, the court said, is also subject to the law.
However, the top court found that no such connection existed.