Rights body urges Pakistan to end judicial harassment of human rights lawyers

Islamabad: A leading human rights organisation called on Pakistani authorities to end judicial harassment of human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chatta in what it described as a “bogus case” relating to “anti-state” tweets.

The remarks followed an order by the Islamabad district and sessions court on Friday instructing Pakistani law enforcement authorities to arrest lawyer and activist Imaan and her husband, Hadi, “within 24 hours”, warning that non-compliance would amount to contempt of court.

The court also cancelled their interim bail a day earlier after the accused failed to appear before the court despite repeated summons, local media reported.

Responding to the cancellation of bail of lawyers and human rights defenders, Imaan and Hadi and an order to immediately arrest them, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, Babu Ram Pant, said, “This baseless trial of Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha is a blatant abuse of the justice system. Pakistani authorities must end the judicial harassment and coercive tactics used to silence dissent and intimidate those who defend human rights.”

“The ‘cyber terrorism’ and other trumped-up charges under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act against Imaan and Hadi are politically motivated and amount to criminalising the right to freedom of expression. This rushed process has been riddled with glaring violations of the right to fair trial, denying the accused the right to attend proceedings and challenge evidence,” he added.

Both Imaan and her husband, Hadi, were reportedly indicted by an Islamabad court in October last year in a case linked to alleged controversial social media posts.

According to Amnesty International, a case was filed against Imaan and Hadi on August 12, 2025 under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, alleging that Imaan had posted content on her social media platform X account from 2021 to April 16, 2025 “targeting important State Institutions of Pakistan” under sections relating to “cyber terrorism”, “hate speech” and “false and fake information”.

“The charges have been brought against Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights and carrying out their professional duties. Authorities must immediately drop all charges against them and rescind the orders for their arrest. The authorities must end this miscarriage of justice, uphold the rule of law, and ensure that human rights defenders can freely exercise their human rights and carry out their work without any fear of reprisals,” Pant stressed.

IANS