- Seeks details of cases registered against from Interior Secy by tomorrow
ISLAMABAD: A single-member bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday directed the Interior Secretary to take all necessary measures to guarantee that “Imaan Mazari remains free from any arrest and exempt from being transported out of Islamabad.”
Furthermore, the court stipulated that if any cases or reports against Imaan Mazari emerge after August 20, she should not be subject to arrest and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow.
IHC Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb presided over the hearing of a petition filed by Imaan Mazari, seeking details of cases registered against her.
During the proceedings, the court ordered that the Interior Secretary, representing the government, would be responsible for compiling comprehensive reports of cases registered across the country against Imaan Mazari and submit the report to the court by tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Barrister Salman Akram Raja, counsel for Human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir on Wednesday said the Islamabad High Court (IHC) made it clear that his client could not be arrested in any cases registered after August 20, the day she was taken into custody.
In a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) by journalist Asad Toor, Barrister Raja can be heard explaining the IHC order in Imaan’s case, saying that that the court issued directives to present a record of all the FIRs registered against her throughout the country so that they could be reviewed by the judges.
🚨🚨#BREAKING: On petition of @ShireenMazari1, #IHC orders secretary interior to submit all FIRs registered against @ImaanZHazir anywhere in #Pakistan, cannot arrest her in any FIR registered after 20th August and cannot move her out from jurisdiction of #Islamabad.@salmanAraja pic.twitter.com/O01Vs41zVK
— Asad Ali Toor (@AsadAToor) August 30, 2023
“The court has said that since she was arrested on Aug 20, if any FIR is registered after that date, she will not be arrested in that,” her lawyer said.
“If this court can grant relief, we will take it from here otherwise from other concerned courts,” Barrister Raja further said. “Or we will file for a protective bail in this court.”
“We contended before the court that the fundamental rights mentioned in the law and Constitution are for every citizen of the country. If any citizen says something, no matter if you like it or not, even if you think that it shouldn’t have been said, despite all that, the Constitution trumps it.
“The Constitution is not just for people who say good things or say things that we want to hear. It is also for those who utter things that we think shouldn’t have been said.
“Now we will see what comes in the order tomorrow,” Barrister Raja further said. “Today’s hearing went pretty well.”
He also confirmed that the high court had ordered to not shift Mazari out of the jurisdiction of Islamabad in any case.
Earlier to this, the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday granted a three-day physical remand of the human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari in a case related to “collection of funds to fuel anti-state activities”.
ATC Judge Abu Al-Hasanat Zulqarnain Sikandar presided over the hearing of the case.
The prosecutor claimed that the human right lawyer is accused of ‘collecting funds to fuel anti-state activities’ and demanded her physical remand to recover the alleged funds and apprehend other potential co-conspirators.
