Key Takeaways
- Supreme Court suspended sentences of human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha.
- Anti-terrorism court rejected police request for physical remand and sent them to jail on judicial remand.
- Case registered against them on March 22, 2025, for chanting anti-government slogans and blocking roads.
Hours after the Supreme Court suspended the sentences of human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) rejected a 30-day physical remand request from the police and sent them to jail on judicial remand.
On January 24, 2025, an Islamabad sessions court sentenced the couple to a total of 17 years in jail on multiple charges under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).
The convictions of the couple, who had already been jailed the day before in a separate case, were widely condemned by lawyers and United Nations (UN) experts.
The case at the federal capital’s Kohsar police station was registered on March 22, 2025, on the complaint of City Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Chandio.
Imaan and her husband were accused of chanting anti-government slogans and blocking roads, and were nominated by name in the FIR.
The FIR included Sections 188 (disobedience of an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant), 341 (wrongful restraint), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging their official duty), and 186 (obstructing a public servant in the performance of official duties).
Earlier today, the apex court suspended the couple’s sentences in the controversial social media posts case after a two-judge SC bench, headed by Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, took up the couple’s appeals against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) refusal in February to suspend the sentences.
On Thursday, the SC granted the couple bail against surety bonds of Rs200,000 and ordered their release pending the IHC’s final verdict.
“Both are lawyers and we are keeping their honour,” observed Justice Afghan, but also asked senior counsel Faisal Siddiqui, the couple’s lawyer, to tell the appellants to observe the court’s decorum.
According to a written order, the SC converted the petitions of both Imaan and Hadi into appeals and suspended the operation of the January 24 conviction.
The court also ordered the release of petitioners — noting they were practising advocates — on bail.
Both are lawyers and we are keeping their honour
Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, Supreme Court Judge
