Filmmaker Jami is granted temporary bail by the Sindh High Court.

Days after a lower court found renowned writer and filmmaker Jamshed Mahmood Raza, also known as Jami, guilty of defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison, the Sindh High Court granted him temporary bail on Thursday.

Through his legal team, Jami, who had been found guilty in a defamation case by a lower court, appealed the decision. The high court granted the appeal, suspended the sentence, and ordered him to post a Rs. 50,000 surety bond.

Jami’s attorneys filed an appeal, claiming that the trial court had improperly shifted the burden of proof to the suspect, going against accepted criminal law and natural justice principles.

According to the appeal, “the entire onus lay upon the prosecution to prove the alleged offence beyond reasonable doubt,” and the available evidence was contradictory and untrustworthy.

Jami’s legal team argued that the trial court’s decision was incorrect and asked the high court to revoke the conviction and suspend the sentence.

The bail ruling was confirmed to the media by Jami’s attorney, who also underlined that the case would now go through the appeals process.

In order to decide whether the conviction should be overturned, the court will hear arguments in the upcoming weeks but has not yet issued a final decision on the appeal.

See Also: Filmmaker Jami receives two-year sentence in defamation case

An additional district and sessions judge (East) in Karachi sentenced the well-known director to two years in prison on Wednesday in a defamation case brought by fellow filmmaker Sohail Javed.

According to Section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code, the court found Jami guilty of making disparaging remarks that harmed Javed’s reputation. In addition to the jail term, the court assessed a Rs 10,000 fine. Jami will be imprisoned for an additional month if the fine is not paid.

The case began in 2019 when Jami shared a letter on his Facebook page after making a public appearance at the Lahooti Melo. The anonymous sexual assault survivor’s letter accused a prominent figure in the entertainment industry of misconduct. Sohail Javed claimed that although Jami did not specifically name anyone, the remarks made beneath the social media post strongly suggested he was the accused, and Jami did not address or refute the public’s conjecture.

Javed later sued for defamation, claiming that the accusations seriously harmed his reputation both personally and professionally.

Jami claimed in court that the Lahooti Melo organizers gave him the letter and that he didn’t know what it contained until he read it out loud. He denied that he intended to disparage anyone.

The court decided, however, that Jami had not presented enough proof to back up his defense. In its ruling, the court noted that the accused failed to provide the author of the letter, any correspondence with the event planners, or reliable evidence that he was unaware of the contents beforehand.