ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Supreme Court reprimanded a senior journalist Tuesday over a report related to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's suspension of Pakistan's top judge.
The reprimand to Mohammed Saleh Zaafir came amid increasing curbs on the media's ability to report on the political crisis triggered by the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry.
The court interrupted a hearing on Chaudhry's appeal against his suspension to summon Zaafir over a report in The News newspaper that the government was looking into alleged misconduct by four more Supreme Court justices.
Presiding Judge Khalil-ur-Rahman Ramday admonished the reporter for making "insinuations" about senior judges in the report, which cited anonymous sources.
After a heated reprimand from several of the judges, details of which Ramday ordered journalists present not to report, Zaafir apologized.Ramday warned him "to be careful in future."
Before the hearings began, the court urged journalists to take care in their reporting of Chaudhry's case or risk charges of contempt of court.
Musharraf suspended Chaudhry on March 9, saying he had received credible evidence of misconduct.
However, the move sparked widespread protests by lawyers and opposition groups, who accuse Musharraf of trying to remove a judge who could have stood in the way of his disputed plan to ask lawmakers for a new five-year term this fall.
Tens of thousands of people have attended rallies across Pakistan where Chaudhry has made speeches, calling for democracy and opposing authoritarian rule.
Authorities have restricted television coverage of the rallies and media and journalists have faced a spate of threats and violence.
Over the weekend, Musharraf withdrew a decree beefing up the ability of regulators to punish TV channels for breaching guidelines that forbid slights against the military, after journalists protested against perceived censorship.
