Islamabad: Anti-terrorism court Islamabad judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnian has sent lawyer and human rights activist Iman Zainab Hazir Mazari and her husband, Advocate Hadi Ali Chattha to jail on 14 days judicial remand.
Investigation Officer Inspector Nadeem Mughal presented Iman Mazari and Hadi Ali Chatta in the court of Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnian and requested the court grant seven days physical remand for investigation and recovery. The judge after hearing the arguments of the investigation officer noted that perusal of record depicts that physical remand does not warranted in the instant case; therefore both accused person are hereby sent to judicial custody for 14 days. The court ordered that the accused persons be again produced on 6th February 2026. The court has directed the IO to submit report under section 173CrPc before the next hearing of the case.
Earlier on Friday Iman Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha were arrested by police in a case related to an altercation case outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The couple was arrested from IHC Bar’s van on their way to the district and sessions court in Islamabad from the bar’s office.
The police confiscated the phones of both Mazari and Chattha, and shifted them to women’s police station.
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the federal capital had dismissed the bail applications of Mazari and Chattha in this case on Thursday due to their absence in the hearing.
The case was registered on the complaint of IHC Bar President, Wajid Ali Gilani, over a heated exchange of words during a protest outside the bar office. Both had filed pre-arrest bail applications in this matter.
Reacting to the development, IHC Bar gave a strike call to protest Mazari and Chattha’s “illegal” arrest.
Moreover, the two had also been summoned by Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka in the controversial tweets case today. The local court judge had directed Mazari and Chattha to appear at 8:30am on Friday upon their repeated absence in the past few hearings.
The two are booked in a case registered by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) under Sections 9, 10, 11 and 26 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016 and were subsequently indicted on October 30.
The first information report (FIR) alleges that the couple attempted to incite divisions on linguistic grounds through social media posts.
Additional Judge Majoka had issued arrest warrants for the couple earlier this month over their continued non-appearance. However, their bail was restored by the IHC earlier this week.
IHC’s Justice Muhammad Azam Khan also restored their right of defence and suspended the order given by Majoka, citing the accused’s failure to appear before the court.
Last month, Mazari and Chattha filed an application in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), expressing distrust in Judge Majoka and seeking the transfer of the controversial tweets case to another court.