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A sessions court in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday sentenced human rights lawyer Iman Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, fellow lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha, to a combined 17 years imprisonment on multiple charges related to controversial social media posts.
The two were charged in accordance with the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). According to the judgment, one of the relevant tweets concerned “Mahrang Baloch… making a sign of victory” and called for people to “Join us on 7 May from 6 PM till midnight to demand justice for Dr. Mahrang Baloch & all other illegally detained BYC leaders”. Mahrang Baloch is a proscribed person under the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Glorification of a proscribed person is criminalized under Section 9 of the PECA and is punishable by up to seven years imprisonment. Glorification is defined as ” depiction of any form of praise or celebration in a desirable manner.”
The judgment also ruled that calling Pakistan a “terrorist state” is an offence under Section 10 of the PECA. Further, the two were convicted of violating Section 10 for accusing state institutions of human rights violations, which “advance the objectives of (proscribed) organizations or individuals”.
The two were also convicted under Section 26-A of the PECA. Section 26-A punishes someone who “intentionally disseminates, publicly exhibits, or transmits any information through any information system, that he knows or has reason to believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear.” The Section 26-A charges relate to the “solidarity with Mahrang Baloch that she was wrongly incarcerated” and the claim of Ghazi Amahullah’s forced disappearance.
On Friday, the two were arrested in Islamabad, a move Amnesty International called “the latest escalation in a sustained campaign of judicial harassment and intimidation by the Pakistani authorities.” Amnesty reported that eyewitnesses saw law enforcement use undue force and provided no justification for their arrest. The arrest and sentencing have been condemned by public figures across Pakistan.
According to a joint statement by the International Bar Association, Lawyers for Lawyers, the Law Society of England and Wales, the criminal case stems from tweets posted between 2021 and 2025, which criticized the Pakistani military’s role in human rights violations. The group of organizations expressed deep concerns over their ongoing “judicial harassment”. They stated, “We have received credible information indicating that the recent indictment and criminal proceedings against the couple… are intended to obstruct their legitimate legal work and retaliate against them for exercising their right to freedom of expression.”
Imaan Mazari is the daughter of prominent politician Shireen Mazari. Shireen Mazari was the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s Senior Vice President before she resigned from the party in 2023 following a series of arrests by the Pakistani state.
The post Pakistan human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha sentenced to 17 years over social media posts appeared first on JURIST - News.
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The two were charged in accordance with the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). According to the judgment, one of the relevant tweets concerned “Mahrang Baloch… making a sign of victory” and called for people to “Join us on 7 May from 6 PM till midnight to demand justice for Dr. Mahrang Baloch & all other illegally detained BYC leaders”. Mahrang Baloch is a proscribed person under the Fourth Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Glorification of a proscribed person is criminalized under Section 9 of the PECA and is punishable by up to seven years imprisonment. Glorification is defined as ” depiction of any form of praise or celebration in a desirable manner.”
The judgment also ruled that calling Pakistan a “terrorist state” is an offence under Section 10 of the PECA. Further, the two were convicted of violating Section 10 for accusing state institutions of human rights violations, which “advance the objectives of (proscribed) organizations or individuals”.
The two were also convicted under Section 26-A of the PECA. Section 26-A punishes someone who “intentionally disseminates, publicly exhibits, or transmits any information through any information system, that he knows or has reason to believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear.” The Section 26-A charges relate to the “solidarity with Mahrang Baloch that she was wrongly incarcerated” and the claim of Ghazi Amahullah’s forced disappearance.
On Friday, the two were arrested in Islamabad, a move Amnesty International called “the latest escalation in a sustained campaign of judicial harassment and intimidation by the Pakistani authorities.” Amnesty reported that eyewitnesses saw law enforcement use undue force and provided no justification for their arrest. The arrest and sentencing have been condemned by public figures across Pakistan.
According to a joint statement by the International Bar Association, Lawyers for Lawyers, the Law Society of England and Wales, the criminal case stems from tweets posted between 2021 and 2025, which criticized the Pakistani military’s role in human rights violations. The group of organizations expressed deep concerns over their ongoing “judicial harassment”. They stated, “We have received credible information indicating that the recent indictment and criminal proceedings against the couple… are intended to obstruct their legitimate legal work and retaliate against them for exercising their right to freedom of expression.”
Imaan Mazari is the daughter of prominent politician Shireen Mazari. Shireen Mazari was the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s Senior Vice President before she resigned from the party in 2023 following a series of arrests by the Pakistani state.
The post Pakistan human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha sentenced to 17 years over social media posts appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.