Hadi | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court on Saturday reissued non-bailable arrest warrants against Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, for their repeated absences from trial proceedings. In the case registered under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (Peca), the two have been accused of inciting divisions on linguistic grounds through social media posts and creating the impression that the armed forces were engaged in terrorism within the country. Court proceedings on Saturday were conducted over three sittings — 9am, noon and 2pm. At each stage, Imaan and Hadi were absent from the proceedings. In the certified copies of court orders dated January 17, Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka — presiding over the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Court (Islamabad-West) — noted that earlier warrants could not be executed despite repeated attempts by law enforcement and the National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA). During the proceedings, officials ...

Former minister Shireen Mazari said on Saturday that a “heavily armed raiding party” of the Islamabad police had surrounded her house at 1am and enquired about her daughter, Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, and son-in-law, Hadi Ali Chattha. “At 1am this morning, a heavily armed raiding party of ICT police from Secretariat thana (police station) surrounded my home and asked for Imaan and Hadi. They were not there, and we informed them of the same. Cops said they had an FIR (first information report) against them and they should report to the thana. Eventually they left,” she posted on X. In a subsequent post, she referred to a protest at the Islamabad High Court yesterday, where Imaan — who is a lawyer and rights activist — and others had raised slogans in support of judicial independence. The lawyers had staged a protest on the premises of the IHC to oppose the suspension of Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri from judicial work. Isl­a­mabad Bar Council member Ale­­em Abbasi, ex-president of the Islamabad High Court Ba...