ISLAMABAD: Human rights activist and lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband, Advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, have approached the Supreme Court against an Islamabad High Court (IHC) judgement dismissing their plea to halt their trial before an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the security breach case.
The couple on Monday filed a criminal petition before the apex court under Article 185(3) of the Constitution against the Division Bench of the IHC on October 19, 2026 order. The Bench had dismissed their request for an interim order on petitions seeking the removal of anti-terrorism provisions from the case. The High Court said it would issue an order after hearing the respondents, and then issued notices to the relevant parties seeking suspension of the trial proceedings.
The applicants contended that the “IHC has erroneously and illegally” refused to exercise its discretion to grant an interim relief to them to stay the criminal trial, even though there were multiple factual and legal reasons for such discretion.
They stated that unless the trial was immediately stayed, their pending application before the high court would become ineffective. They argued that the trial court initiated proceedings in haste without granting them adequate time and recorded the statements of prosecution witnesses in a single day.
The petition further maintained that removing security barriers did not constitute terrorism, alleging that the trial was intended to harass the accused and subject them to political victimisation. The applicants claimed that the objective was to keep them behind bars.
The Islamabad ATC framed charges against Imaan and Hadi on October 7 in a case relating to the alleged removal of security barriers and disruption of a designated route during the visit of an international cricket team. The court subsequently recorded statements from all seven prosecution witnesses, and the case has reached the cross-examination stage.
The trial was shifted to Adiala Jail amid disputes over the accused’s production in court and defence lawyers’ access to their clients.
Imaan and Hadi had approached the IHC seeking to suspend the trial, alleging procedural violations in the framing of charges, including that they had not been physically present when indicted and had not received copies of relevant documents.
In January, the couple was handed a combined 17 years sentence on multiple charges linked to controversial social media posts that the prosecution argued amounted to an anti-state narrative under cybercrime laws. The same month, they filed applications for suspension of their sentences.
Later, Imaan and her husband Hadi were rearrested on September 17, shortly after the Supreme Court granted them bail and suspended their sentences in the social-media posts case. They were produced before an Islamabad ATC in connection with a case registered at Kohsar Police Station.
ATC Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain sent the couple on judicial remand. On October 7, the ATC had framed charges against Imaan and Hadi in the case related to the alleged violation of a designated route and incitement during the arrival of an international cricket team, despite defence objections that legal requirements had not been fulfilled.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026