Imaan Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha have been sentenced to 10 years in prison each by an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi. The decision came on Thursday in a case linked to an alleged security risk during an international cricket team’s visit in October 2024. The couple, both lawyers and human rights activists, faced charges under Section 353, Section 186, and the Anti-Terrorism Act.
According to the court order, they received two years and a Rs50,000 fine under Section 353, plus one year and another Rs50,000 fine under Section 186. The main 10-year term under the Anti-Terrorism Act carried an additional Rs100,000 fine. All sentences will run together, so the total time is 10 years. The court also granted them the benefit of Section 382.
Their lawyer, Aimal Mandokhail, had asked the court to delay the verdict. He pointed out that petitions were still pending before the Supreme Court and the high court, and that a transfer application remained under review. Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra announced the decision at Adiala Jail. He noted that the prosecution presented seven witnesses during the trial. The couple was indicted on October 7 in the case filed on October 25, 2024. A state counsel represented them and cross-examined the witnesses.
Mazari and Chattha have described the cases against them as retaliatory steps taken because of their human rights work and free legal services. In her statement under Section 342, Mazari claimed she was rearrested at Adiala Jail after facing violence even after getting bail from the Supreme Court.
The couple has remained in custody since their arrest on January 23 over a protest outside the Islamabad High Court. A day later they received a 17-year sentence in a separate PECA case linked to social media posts. The Supreme Court later suspended that sentence and granted bail, but police rearrested them within hours in another case. The latest sentencing follows their recent approach to the Supreme Court challenging an Islamabad High Court order that refused interim relief.
