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14:24 Jan 24, 2026
A sessions court on Saturday sentenced lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her spouse, Hadi Ali Chattha, to a total of 17 years in prison on multiple charges in a case about controversial social media posts, a day after they were arrested in Islamabad. According to the written order, Imaan “consistently disseminated highly offensive, misleading and anti-state contents on social media”, with the “active connivance” of Hadi. The order also observed that Imaan’s tweets made between 2021 and 2025 from “portrayed the agenda” of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Lawyers, activists and politicians expressed their outrage over the sentencing. Here are some of the reactions. ‘Completely illegal’ Digital rights expert and activist Usama Khilji said, “Completely illegal, unconstitutional and baseless order without any roots in due process, especially as the transfer application is pending in the high court.” He said that the sentencing of human rights lawyers for “tweets...