Pakistani Human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, have been re-arrested after the the Supreme Court on Thursday granted them bail.
Mazari and Chattha were sentenced in January 2026 to a combined 17 years in prison on multiple charges related to social media posts that the prosecution alleged promoted an anti-state narrative under cybercrime laws. They subsequently filed applications before the IHC seeking suspension of their sentences.
During Thursday’s hearing, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan said the court was mindful that both accused were lawyers. “Both are lawyers; we are respecting their dignity. Tell them too to observe the decorum of the court,” he said, adding that there was a distinction between a lawyer and an ordinary person.
Additional Attorney General Rana Asad opposed the bail applications, arguing that the IHC had yet to issue a decision on the matter. “The High Court has not yet issued any decision against us. Seven opportunities were provided before the trial court,” he said.
Rana Asad maintained that the IHC was the appropriate forum to consider suspension of the sentences under Section 426.
Justice Afghan questioned the repeated adjournments of the proceedings, observing that the IHC judge would refer to the SC’s order before adjourning the matter. “Then, when the case comes before the SC, a new date is fixed in the High Court. The IHC is, in its own way, preventing the SC from functioning,” he remarked.
The judge also asked what had transpired following the SC’s first order in the case.
Advocate Faisal Siddiqui told the court that the SC had issued its initial order on May 12, directing the IHC to decide the matter within two weeks. He subsequently read out the order sheets from several hearings before the High Court.
The IHC had scheduled September 8 to hear Mazari and Chattha’s applications seeking suspension of their sentences. The hearing, however, was adjourned without proceedings. The SC had previously directed the IHC to decide the applications within two weeks.
At an earlier hearing, a two-member SC bench headed by Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan had questioned the delay and remarked that the “system should be fully exposed”.
