Imaan Mazari, Hadi submit additional documents before Supreme Court hearing

ISLAMABAD: Human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, have filed additional documents in the Supreme Court ahead of the hearing of their plea on Tuesday, May 12, seeking to overturn an Islamabad High Court (IHC) order that denied interim relief in the social media posts case against them.

The documents were submitted on Monday through their counsel, Faisal Siddiqi. According to the application, the material includes charge sheets issued against the petitioners on different dates, their statements before the trial court, and orders passed by that court.

The couple asked the apex court to place the documents on record, saying they were essential and relevant for deciding the matter in the interest of justice. In their application, they said the documents were not available when the appeals were filed because the IHC office had not prepared the paper books at that stage, while the trial record was obtained later.

Appeal against denial of interim relief

In December 2025, Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha approached the Supreme Court to challenge the IHC decision refusing interim relief in the case. Their petition argued that the high court had “erroneously and illegally refused” to exercise its discretion to grant ad-interim relief by staying the criminal trial.

The plea further maintained that the recording of evidence before the trial court in their absence was not only contrary to Section 353 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, but also violated their due process and fair trial rights under Article 10A of the Constitution.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Shahid Waheed and comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui, is set to begin hearing the appeals on Tuesday.

Separate appeals over sentence

Earlier, on April 30, the couple also filed appeals in the Supreme Court under Article 185(3) of the Constitution against the IHC’s February 19, 2026 order. Through that order, the high court had admitted their appeal against the trial court’s January 24 judgement that sentenced them to a combined 17 years in prison.

While admitting the appeals against the trial court ruling, the IHC had issued notices to the respondents on the application seeking suspension of sentence, but it did not suspend the sentence at that stage.

In that petition, the couple requested the Supreme Court to accept their appeals and suspend the sentence awarded through the impugned trial court judgement until the criminal appeal pending before the IHC is decided.

On January 24, a trial court sentenced Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha to a total of 17 years’ imprisonment on multiple charges in the case. The two were awarded 10 years under Section 10 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) relating to cyber terrorism, five years under Section 9 concerning glorification of an offence, and two years under Section 26-A dealing with false and fake information.