Imaan Mazari, Hadi Appeal 10-Year Sentences in Islamabad High Court

Photo: Dawn

Human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha have gone to the Islamabad High Court against the 10-year jail terms handed to them last week. Their lawyers say the trial was unfair from the start, and 23 international rights groups, including Amnesty International, have called for the couple to be freed at once.

The appeals were filed on Friday by advocates Faisal Siddiqui, Riasat Ali Azad and Zainab Janjua, under Section 25 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, read with Section 410 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, against the judgment of October 29, 2026, passed by the judge of Special Court-II (Anti-Terrorism), Islamabad. The couple have also asked for their sentences to be suspended and for bail while the appeal is heard.

On Oct 29, the anti-terrorism court sentenced Imaan and Hadi to 10 years in prison each in the security breach case. The court also gave them one-year sentences and fines of Rs50,000 each for obstructing a public servant, and two years each for assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from duty.

The appeal says the trial court failed to meet the requirements of a fair trial and that the conviction came out of proceedings that were patently illegal and arbitrary. It says the charge was framed without giving the couple copies of the case papers, and that a plea of not guilty was recorded for them although they never entered one. It says the statements of three prosecution witnesses were recorded in the absence of the couple and their counsel, against the law and Article 10-A of the Constitution, which guarantees a fair trial.

The appeal also challenges the jail trial, saying it was run like a secret trial and without lawful authority, and that the couple were not allowed a proper and confidential meeting with their counsel. It says state counsel was imposed on them against their wishes, and that the trial court went ahead even though a transfer application was pending before the high court.

On the merits, the appeal argues the terrorism conviction cannot stand because the prosecution never proved the design or purpose the law requires. It points out that the trial court itself described the incident as "a very common nature, ordinary type of incident", and that the evidence showed the couple were on their way to court when they were held up at a barrier. They have asked the court to set the judgment aside and acquit them.

The case has drawn a sharp response from abroad. In a joint statement on Friday, 23 organisations, including Amnesty International, Alliance for Lawyers at Risk, the New York City Bar Association, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, the Geneva Bar Association, Lawyers for Lawyers and PEN Norway, called on the government to release Imaan and Hadi "immediately and unconditionally" and to end what they called the "extensive misuse" of the criminal justice system against the two lawyers.

The statement said the convictions raised serious concerns about anti-terrorism laws being used "to criminally punish and intimidate lawyers undertaking permissible human rights work". It noted the verdict came even though a petition was pending in the Supreme Court, and that the trial at Adiala jail did not meet fair trial standards. The couple, it said, were kept in a "cage-like" structure in the courtroom through the trial, unable to talk properly with their counsel, while the prosecution relied mainly on police testimony and the defence were denied a fair chance to challenge it.

The groups recalled that the Supreme Court suspended the couple's 17-year sentences in the social media posts case on September 17, only for them to be rearrested, and said the new proceedings looked calculated to make an example of them and to chill the legal profession. They urged the government to review the use of Peca and anti-terrorism laws against lawyers, journalists, rights defenders and peaceful critics, and to live up to Pakistan's duties under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The case lands in a week when the courts have been drawing lines around detention powers, after the Federal Constitutional Court stopped the Peshawar High Court from hearing 3-MPO arrest cases in KP. The Islamabad High Court has also been hearing other high-profile appeals, and fixed Nov 10 for the Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi appeals in the £190m case. Politics in Punjab has been unsettled too, with the ECP setting Feb 7 for Punjab local government polls while halting the KP elections.

Sources

• Dawn: Imaan, Hadi move IHC against conviction in security breach case
• The Express Tribune: Imaan Mazari, Hadi Chattha appeal 10-year sentences in IHC

The high court has yet to fix a date to hear the appeals, and the couple remain in jail until it does.

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