Imaan Mazari moves Supreme Court over sentence in tweets case

ISLAMABAD: Advocate Imaan Mazari has approached the Supreme Court seeking suspension of her sentence in a case linked to anti-state social media posts.

The human rights lawyer moved the apex court after the Islamabad High Court did not list for hearing her application seeking suspension of a 17-year sentence. The petition was filed through lawyer Faisal Siddiqi.

According to the petition, despite what it described as a vehement request by her counsel for suspension of the trial court judgment, the Islamabad High Court on February 19 only issued notices on the suspension application and did not suspend the sentence.

The plea contends that the trial court order was entirely illegal and clearly mala fide. It argues that the judgment violated due process protections under Articles 10 and 10A of the Constitution and also breached mandatory provisions of Sections 526, 233, 234, 353 and 367 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898.

The petition further states that the order went against binding Islamabad High Court directions, denied Mazari the right to counsel of her choice and the right to cross-examine witnesses, and recorded the accused’s statement without her consent.

It also says that a state counsel was appointed against her wishes and that the case relied on documents the petition describes as inadmissible, including an analysis report and even on admitted record. The petition additionally argues that no offence was made out under Sections 9, 10 and 26A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

Proceedings before the Islamabad High Court

The petition says that an urgent application for early hearing was also filed before the Islamabad High Court. It quotes a further order dated 27-02-2026 as saying: "On the urgent application for early hearing filed by the petitioner, the IHC, through a further order dated 27-02-2026, neither granted the early hearing request nor fixed any date for it, but instead referred the matter to the IHC chief justice."

"However, to the shock and surprise of the petitioner, the office of the IHC, through an administrative order dated 05-03-2026, returned the early hearing application on the ground that the previous early hearing application was still pending," the plea adds.

Listing before the apex court

The matter will now depend on whether the Supreme Court office lists Mazari’s petition against the Islamabad High Court’s interim order for hearing.

If the petition is assigned a number, a three-judge committee comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail will decide on listing of the case.