No one claimed responsibility for Sami Abrahim’s abduction, but it is widely believed he was held by the security agencies.

A prominent Pakistani television journalist who went missing last week, apparently because of his public support to former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has returned home after being released by his captors, his family and his employer said.

Sami Abrahim’s brother, Ali Raza, took to Twitter early on Tuesday to confirm his release. BOL TV also confirmed his release in a news announcement.

“Thankful to God,” he tweeted this morning in Urdu after his release.

Abrahim went missing on Thursday when eight people in four vehicles intercepted his car on his way back home from work in the capital, Islamabad, and took him away, according to his family and BOL TV where Abrahim works.

No one had claimed responsibility for Abrahim’s abduction, but it is widely believed that he was being held by the country’s security agencies, which are notorious for abducting, harassing and torturing journalists.

Abrahim has long publicly opposed the government of Khan’s successor, Premier Shehbaz Sharif.

Khan, a former cricketer who was in office from 2018 to 2022, was removed in a no-confidence vote in parliament last year.

Another pro-Khan TV journalist, Imran Riaz, went missing earlier this month and was yet to be freed.

A court in Lahore is set to hear a plea on his disappearance later on Tuesday.