Pakistani court postpones until September 23 hearing on activists’ sentence suspension pleas
The Islamabad High Court in Pakistan postponed until September 23 the hearing of pleas by Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, to suspend the execution of the sentences imposed on them in a case concerning social media posts. Judge Muhammad Azam Khan adjourned the hearing due to the absence of a prosecutor from the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency.
The couple was represented in court by lawyers Faisal Siddiqui, Riasat Ali Azad, Zainab Janjua and others. Due to the prosecutor’s absence, the court was unable to make substantial progress in considering the pleas, Dawn reports.
Sentence in the posts case
Mazari-Hazir and Chattha have been in custody since January 23 after being detained in a case concerning a protest outside the Islamabad High Court. According to the source, they were also accused of alleged mistreatment of the president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association. The couple’s detention was criticized by human rights organizations, politicians and journalists, who emphasized their right to a fair trial.
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The following day, a trial court sentenced each of them to a cumulative 17 years in prison in the social media posts case under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. The sentence comprised 10 years’ imprisonment for cyberterrorism, five years for glorification of an offense and two years for disseminating false information.
Appeals and pleas
The proceedings began after a complaint filed on August 12, 2025, by an assistant director who was an investigator at the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency in Islamabad with the Cyber Crime Reporting Centre of the Federal Investigation Agency. The complaint accused Mazari-Hazir of disseminating and promoting narratives which, according to the complainant, aligned with the positions of hostile terrorist groups and banned organizations. Chattha was implicated in the case for reposting some of her posts.
On February 7, the couple separately appealed their sentences before the Islamabad High Court. In May, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the court to consider the pleas to suspend the execution of the sentences within two weeks, but the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency challenged this ruling and asked for it to be recalled. In July, the High Court found the pleas admissible for consideration.
