The Islamabad High Court has scheduled September 8 to hear applications seeking suspension of the sentences handed to lawyer and rights activist Imaan Mazari and her husband, advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, as proceedings surrounding their convictions continue across the superior courts.
The IHC Registrar’s Office issued a cause list confirming that Justice Muhammad Azam Khan will hear the applications. Mazari and Chattha had filed their sentence-suspension pleas in January after being sentenced to a combined 17 years in prison each over charges linked to social media posts that prosecutors argued promoted an anti-state narrative under cybercrime laws.
Their case also came before a two-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan. During Thursday’s proceedings, Justice Afghan remarked that the “system should be fully exposed” as the bench examined the handling and scheduling of the sentence-suspension applications.
Lawyer Faisal Siddiqui told the Supreme Court that an earlier direction requiring a decision on the suspension pleas within two weeks had not been implemented. The additional attorney general, meanwhile, argued that the appeals seeking suspension were not admissible, prompting Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim to question the legal basis for that position.
The Supreme Court subsequently adjourned further proceedings until September 17, meaning the IHC hearing scheduled for September 8 is expected to take place first.
The case dates back to January, when Mazari and Chattha were arrested near the Serena Hotel while travelling to the district courts. A district and sessions court later sentenced each of them to a combined 17 years of rigorous imprisonment under multiple provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. They were, however, acquitted of the hate-speech charge under Section 11 after the trial court found that prosecution witnesses did not support that allegation.
Mazari subsequently approached the Supreme Court after her sentence-suspension application remained pending before the IHC. The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency later challenged the Supreme Court’s intervention, arguing that decisions on suspension applications fell within the High Court’s jurisdiction.
The case has since involved parallel proceedings and repeated questions over scheduling, maintainability and the respective roles of the two courts.
The September 8 hearing could now become a significant stage in determining whether Mazari and Chattha remain incarcerated while their broader appeals against conviction proceed.
Importantly, the upcoming hearing concerns suspension of their sentences. It does not itself determine the final outcome of their appeals against conviction.
