• In late-night proceedings, ATC rejects police request for 30-day physical remand, sends them back to jail
• Couple held over FIR registered on March 22 last year for blocking roads, chanting anti-govt slogans
• Move comes after Supreme Court suspended their sentences in social media posts case, ordered their release on bail

ISLAMABAD: Hours after the Supreme Court suspended the sentences of human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, on Thursday, Islamabad police arrested the couple again in connection with another case and produced them before an anti-terrorism court (ATC), which sent them to jail on judicial remand.

After their release from Adiala jail, a team of Islamabad police personnel, led by SP Khurram Ashraf, reached the prison and arrested the couple again in connection with a case registered at Kohsar police station at about 8:55pm. They were taken to Islamabad and subsequently produced before the ATC late at night, sources said.

There, Islamabad ATC Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain rejected the police’s request for 30-day physical remand, and instead, sent the couple to jail on judicial remand.

Imaan’s mother Shireen Mazari confirmed the development, saying attempts were being made to keep her daughter and son-in-law in jail.

Speaking to Dawn, Imaan’s counsel Riasat Ali Azad also confirmed the development, saying a large contingent of Islamabad police had shifted the couple to Kohsar police station.

The case at the federal capital’s Kohsar police station was registered on March 22 last year on the complaint of City Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Chandio.

Imaan and her husband were accused of chanting anti-government slogans and blocking roads and were nominated by name in the FIR.

However, no section of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) had been added to the case at the time of its registration.

The FIR included Section 188 (disobedience of an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant), Section 341 (wrongful restraint), Section 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), Section 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging their official duty) and Section 186 (obstructing a public servant in the performance of official duties).

SC suspends sentences

Earlier in the day, a two-judge SC bench suspended the sentences of the couple in the controversial social media posts case and ordered their release on bail against surety bonds of Rs200,000 each.

The bench, headed by Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and also comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, took up the couple’s appeals against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) refusal on Feb 19 to suspend their sentences.

On Jan 24, an Islamabad sessions court sentenced Ms Mazari and Mr Chattha to a total of 17 years in jail on multiple charges under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

The SC ordered the couple’s release on bail pending the IHC’s final verdict.

“Both are lawyers and we are keeping their honour,” observed Justice Afghan, while also asking senior counsel Faisal Siddiqui, the couple’s lawyer, to tell the appellants to observe the court’s decorum.

“There is a difference between a lawyer and an ordinary person,” the judge observed.

According to a written order, the SC converted the petitions of both Ms Mazari and Mr Chattha into appeals and suspended the operation of the Jan 24 conviction.

The court also ordered the release of the petitioners, noting that they were practising advocates, on bail until the decision on their pending appeals before the IHC.

The SC will issue a detailed verdict on the case later.

During Thursday’s hearing, Mr Siddiqui argued that the SC had issued its first order on May 12, directing the IHC to decide the applicants’ petitions for suspension of sentence as expeditiously as possible, preferably within two weeks.

Despite the May 26 deadline having passed, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) challenged the SC order and sought its withdrawal.

The controversy at the centre of the case stems from a complaint filed under Peca on Aug 12 last year by the NCCIA Islamabad assistant director before the Federal Investigation Agency Cybercrime Reporting Centre.

The complaint accused Ms Mazari of disseminating and “propagating narratives that align with hostile terrorist groups and proscribed organisations”, while her husband was implicated for reposting some of her posts.

Munawer Azeem in Islamabad and Mohammad Asghar in Rawalpindi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2026