“He [Imran Riaz Khan] returned home safely this morning [Monday],” Khan’s younger brother Usman Riaz Khan told Al Jazeera. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Sialkot police wrote that Khan was "found safe and sound" and was now with his family. However, the police did not provide any information about where the journalist was found. Khan 's lawyer, Mian Ashfaq Ali, told Al Jazeera that it took a long time for the journalist to return due to "countless difficulties and a weak justice system". Khan's arrest came two days after deadly violence erupted in Pakistan to protest the arrest of Imran Khan on corruption charges. Four days after the arrest, police told the Lahore court that the journalist had been released within 24 hours. However, there was no trace of him and the police denied having him in custody. No one claimed responsibility for Khan's disappearance, but many believed he had been kidnapped by security agencies controlled by the country's powerful army. In , Khan's family approached the Lahore High Court asking for help in finding him. After numerous hearings, the court issued a “final warning” on September 20 to the police to report the journalist missing by Tuesday. Pakistan has a checkered history when it comes to the safety of journalists and media freedom. It was ranked 150th in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).