A leading women's rights campaigner was detained for nearly nine hours after landing in Islamabad Friday, activists said. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) detained Gulalai Ismail on her return from the United Kingdom, Ismat Shahjahan, another activist who went to pick her up at Islamabad's airport, told AFP. The brief detention caused a swift furore from other rights activists, including Amnesty International, which put out a statement demanding the release of Ismail, whose work on women's rights has been recognised internationally.

She was released later Friday, Shahjahan said - but officials kept her travel documents. "I kept on waiting just to make sure that she is not disappeared," Shahjahan added.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018