ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court on Friday sent activist and lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha to jail on judicial remand, hours after their arrest in connection with a protest outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The case pertains to allegations of protesting outside the IHC and manhandling the Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) president. The proceedings were conducted under strict security, with lawyers and media barred from the courtroom.
The hearing was presided over by ATC Judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain.
Prior to their arrest, the couple had spent three consecutive nights at the office of IHCBA President Syed Wajid Ali Gilani, citing fears of arrest. Their detention triggered an immediate backlash from lawyers’ bodies, which announced a complete strike in protest.
Mazari and Chattha were due to appear before a trial court on Friday in a separate case related to controversial social media posts, in which their bail had been cancelled earlier this month and arrest warrants issued.
According to IHCBA officials, the couple — accompanied by the bar president — first attempted to surrender before IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfaraz Dogar, but were informed he was not present. They later left for the district courts in an IHCBA vehicle.
Police vehicles, already deployed outside the IHC for three days, followed the convoy. Near the Serena Hotel underpass, police intercepted the vehicle, arrested the couple and shifted them to an undisclosed location.
IHCBA members alleged that despite assurances of safe passage, police forcibly stopped the vehicle, assaulted lawyers, broke car windows and manhandled Mazari during the arrest. Concerns were also raised over her safety in custody.
IHCBA Secretary Manzoor Ahmed Jajja resigned in protest, saying he had been assured the couple would not be arrested before surrendering to the trial court. He confirmed submitting his resignation to the Islamabad Bar Council.
Meanwhile, Additional District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Afzal Majoka adjourned the social media posts case due to the accused’s absence, warning that their right to cross-examination could be closed if they failed to appear by Saturday afternoon.
Earlier, the IHC had declared the trial court’s arrest orders null and void and granted the couple four days to cross-examine prosecution witnesses, while clarifying that protection would lapse if they failed to appear.
‘Fascism at its peak’
Former federal minister Shireen Mazari, Imaan’s mother, confirmed the arrests in a series of posts on X, alleging that no FIR was shown and that the couple was taken to unknown locations.
“Fascism at its peak,” she wrote, sharing videos of police trailing and intercepting the lawyers’ vehicle. She further alleged violence during the arrest and claimed the couple was covertly produced before the ATC without access to lawyers.
“Our lawyers were denied access, water, medicine — this is an enforced disappearance,” she alleged, saying she had no information on where her daughter and son-in-law were being held or their condition.
