SC adjourns hearing on Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha plea against IHC order

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday put off hearing petitions filed by rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha, who are challenging an Islamabad High Court order that declined to suspend their sentences in the social media posts case while issuing notices on their plea.

A three-member bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar took up the applications after the court had issued notices on July 6 on the couple’s requests for an early hearing. The bench deferred further proceedings after being informed that the Islamabad High Court had fixed the matter for July 24.

During the hearing, Justice Mazhar observed that the apex court could not regulate proceedings before the high court. Counsel Faisal Siddiqi argued that superior courts had issued directions to high courts in other matters, but the bench said there was a distinction between regulating proceedings and issuing orders.

The additional attorney general told the court that the matter was already scheduled before the IHC for July 24. Siddiqi, however, maintained that the listing came because the case was being heard in the Supreme Court. He also said the previous hearing had been delayed at the prosecution’s request.

Siddiqi asked the bench either to hear arguments on the legal question of admissibility or to adjourn the matter for two weeks. The court responded that such an adjournment would amount to monitoring the IHC proceedings. While adjourning the case, the Supreme Court said the lawyers could move an application for an early hearing if an emergency arose.

Birthday gathering outside court

Outside the court premises, senior lawyers and supporters marked Imaan Mazari-Hazir’s birthday. After the hearing, Siddiqi cut a chocolate cake. Former minister Shireen Mazari, Imaan’s mother, was present along with rights activists Afrasiab Khattak, Farhatullah Babar and Tahir Abdullah, as well as several lawyers.

Case background

The case stems from a complaint lodged on Aug 12, 2025 under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act by the Islamabad assistant director of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, who was also the investigating officer. According to the complaint, Mazari was accused of circulating and propagating narratives said to be aligned with hostile terrorist groups and banned organisations, while Chattha was accused of reposting some of her social media posts.

The FIR alleged that the two had blamed security forces for cases of missing persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. It further alleged that they portrayed the armed forces as ineffective against banned groups, including the Baloch Liberation Army and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka indicted the couple on Oct 30, 2025 and issued arrest warrants for them on Nov 5, 2025. Later that month, a court-appointed lawyer declined to cross-examine prosecution witnesses, saying he could not "ask questions dictated" to him. The court subsequently appointed them a new lawyer.

After several hearings and repeated absences, the trial court cancelled their interim bail on January 14 and later reissued arrest warrants. The couple then challenged the arrest orders before the Islamabad High Court.

On January 24, an Islamabad sessions court sentenced Imaan and Hadi to a combined 17 years in prison on multiple charges under Peca. They challenged the convictions before the IHC on February 7, and the high court issued notices on the appeals on February 19. On April 30, they also moved the Supreme Court seeking an early hearing of their appeals against conviction.

Imaan and Hadi have been in jail since January 23, a day before their conviction in the social media posts case, in a separate case registered over protesting outside the Islamabad High Court and allegedly manhandling the president of the IHC Bar Association.