- The petitioner’s lawyer maintains that the case was baseless and fabricated.
- The ATC judge approves the couple’s bail on a bond of Rs10,000 each.
- IHC issues notices to NCCIA on conviction in controversial tweet case.
ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court in the federal capital on Thursday granted post-arrest bail to lawyer and activist Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, in a case related to an alleged scuffle with the police.
The couple was arrested by the Islamabad police last month for alleged involvement in an altercation outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The case was registered at the Secretariat Police Station.
The applications were heard by ATC judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain, who granted bail to Imaan and Chattha on bail of Rs10,000 each.
During the hearing, advocate Riasat Ali Azad argued on behalf of the petitioners and said that the case was fabricated and suddenly surfaced. He maintained that the FIR had no justification and was based on a fictitious incident. Even the nominees were unaware of the matter, he added.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the court reserved its judgment and later granted the bail objections.
It may be noted that the couple will remain behind bars despite bail as a district and sessions court in Islamabad also convicted them in a separate case over the controversial tweets last month.
Notices issued in controversial tweets case
In a related development, the IHC issued notices to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on Imaan and Chattha’s applications against their conviction.
In separate petitions filed in the High Court, they had maintained that their convictions were the result of a “manifestly illegal and arbitrary trial”.
The pair also requested a stay of their sentences and release on bail pending the final decision in the main appeal.
The conviction came just a day after their arrest in the contentious case last month, when Additional Magistrate Muhammad Afzal Majoka sentenced the husband and wife to a total of 17 years in prison each under different sections related to controversial social media posts.
According to the 22-page written judgment, Mazari and her husband were sentenced to five years imprisonment each with a fine of Rs5 million each under Section 9 of Peca; sentenced to 10 years each with a fine of Rs30 million each under Section 10 of Peca.
Besides, the couple was also convicted under Section 26-A of Peca and was sentenced to 2 years each with a fine of Rs1 million each.
The two had been booked by the NCCIA under Sections 9, 10, 11 and 26 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016, and were subsequently charged on October 30, 2025.
The first information report (FIR) alleges that the couple tried to incite division on linguistic grounds through social media posts.
