Overview

• Authorities said he was arrested Tuesday and placed in 30-day preventive detention under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order, then shifted to jail.
• The detention followed a petition from a religious group after his remarks about the Prophet Muhammad spread widely online.
• Supporters argue he quoted terminology used by another community and that the circulating clip misrepresented his intent.
• Mirza is a prominent preacher with more than 3.1 million YouTube followers who previously faced a 2023 blasphemy case under Section 295C and a 2020 arrest.
• Human rights groups have long criticized the MPO as overly broad, and a Lahore-based lawyer described the arrest as an effort to silence dissent.