ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Tuesday granted bail to lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, in a case involving allegations of blocking a road outside the National Press Club and scuffling with police.
ATC Judge Abual Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain approved their bail applications against surety bonds of Rs5,000 each after police presented the case record before the court.
Defence counsel Riasat Ali Azad informed the judge that the record had been received that day. The judge remarked that he would have questioned the police over the delay had the documents not been produced.
The judge then asked the applicants whether they wanted to say anything before announcing that their bail applications had been accepted.
He also said he would examine the matter concerning a show-cause notice issued to police over the delay in producing the record.
The bail order relates specifically to the road-blocking and police altercation case and is separate from another case in which the couple were sentenced to 10 years in prison each last week.
Separate security-breach conviction
In the separate security-breach case, an ATC last week sentenced Mazari and Chattha to 10 years in prison each. The court also handed them one-year sentences and imposed fines of Rs50,000 each under Section 186 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which deals with obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions.
They were further sentenced to two years each under Section 353 of the PPC, relating to assault or criminal force used to deter a public servant from performing official duties.
The November 3 bail decision does not concern these convictions.
Other cases and arrests
The couple have been in jail since their arrest on January 23 in a case registered over a protest outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and allegations that they manhandled the IHC Bar Association president. Their arrest drew criticism from rights organisations, politicians and journalists, who raised concerns about their right to a fair trial.
A day after their arrest, a sessions court sentenced them to 17 years in prison each on multiple charges under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) in a separate case concerning social media posts. The convictions were criticised by lawyers and United Nations experts.
On September 17, the Supreme Court suspended their sentences in the social media posts case pending the IHC’s final decision on their appeals and ordered their release in that matter.
However, hours later, Islamabad police arrested them again in connection with the security-breach case. The case had been registered at Kohsar police station on March 22 last year on the complaint of City Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Chandio.
The latest bail order therefore concerns a separate road-blocking and police altercation case, while the security-breach convictions and the proceedings in the social media posts case remain distinct legal matters.
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