Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha seek early Supreme Court hearing in social media posts case

ISLAMABAD: Lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court seeking an early hearing of their appeal against a February 19 Islamabad High Court (IHC) order in the social media posts case.

The application, filed through senior counsel Faisal Siddiqi, asked the court to fix for next week their appeal under Article 185(3) of the Constitution challenging the sentence in the case. According to the plea, the IHC had issued notices to the respondents on their application but had not suspended their sentences.

On January 24, an Islamabad sessions court sentenced Imaan and Hadi to a combined 17 years in prison on several charges under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca). In February, the IHC rejected their request for suspension of the 17-year sentence.

The case arose from a complaint lodged on August 12, 2025, by the Islamabad assistant director of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), who was also the investigating officer, before the FIA's Cybercrime Reporting Centre. The complaint alleged that Imaan had circulated and promoted narratives aligned with hostile terrorist groups and banned organisations, while Hadi was accused of reposting some of her posts.

In the fresh application, the petitioners argued that criminal cases are ordinarily given precedence by the Supreme Court, especially in matters involving bail or suspension of sentence.

“It is the settled policy of the Supreme Court that criminal matters were given priority, especially when the matters pertain to bail or suspension of sentence,” the new application said.

The plea also referred to Section 7 of the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, saying applications claiming urgency are to be fixed within 14 days.

Imaan and Hadi have remained in jail since their arrest in January in a separate case registered over a protest outside the IHC and allegations of manhandling the president of the IHC Bar Association. Their arrest drew criticism from rights groups, politicians and journalists, who emphasised the couple’s right to a fair trial. A day after that development, the sessions court handed down the 17-year sentence in the social media posts case.

The couple had challenged their conviction through separate appeals filed in the IHC on February 7. They later approached the Supreme Court on April 30 as well, seeking an early hearing of their pleas against the conviction.