Lawyer Imaan Mazari. Photo:
The controversial hearing of lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha’s tweet case in the Islamabad District and Sessions Court has been adjourned to December 15 as their petition before the Islamabad High Court seeking transfer of the case is still pending.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka heard the case and the lawyer duo was also present. “The petition is still pending before the Islamabad High Court,” the defense lawyer said.
The petition, which alleges lack of transparency on the part of Justice Majoka, was filed during the final hearing of the controversial tweets case at the District and Sessions Court on Friday. Mazari reportedly told the judge with a smile: “Give me the seven-year sentence, I’m ready.” Judge Majoka did not respond.
Another petition, challenging the trial court’s order, was also filed before the IHC on December 1 before advocate Ali Azad, representing Mazari and Chattha, who claimed that “the trial court is not conducting a transparent trial.”
Defense lawyer Ali Azad has expressed concern that the trial is not being conducted in a transparent manner. Ali Azad stressed: “A fair trial is my constitutional right. Witness statements must be recorded in my presence. The trial court is not conducting a transparent trial. This is one of the many cases pending before this court. These are professional lawyers and members of the bar.”
Read: Mazari and her husband seek transfer of case due to bias
Mazari and her husband, Chattha, had already raised objections after the state-appointed lawyer withdrew from the controversial case.
Before Tuesday’s hearing, Mazari also claimed that the court had “forcibly appointed a state attorney for her and Chattha.”
The trial has received a lot of attention from the legal fraternity; In the previous hearing on Friday, District Bar Association President Naeem Gujar, Islamabad Bar Association Member Raja Aleem Abbasi and High Court Bar Association Former President Riyasat Ali Azad attended the hearing.
Lawyers present in court reportedly raised slogans, prompting Judge Majoka to leave the courtroom. Aurat March and the Karachi Bar Association have announced protests tomorrow morning outside the Karachi Municipal Courts to demand a fair trial for Imaan Mazari and Chattha.
The groups believe the trial has been compromised and hope that the Islamabad High Court will accept their petition at the hearing at the IHC tomorrow. “Over the two weeks covered by this false case, you have denied Imaan and Hadi the right to a fair trial and due process in multiple ways,” Aurat March said in a social media post.
Read more: The trial against Imaan Mazari “is not transparent”, the lawyer tells IHC
The Islamabad Bar Association also called for a strike on Friday against “the unfair trial of human rights defenders Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali.”
The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency has registered a case against Mazari and Chattha; both are accused of posting “anti-state” sentiments on X. The couple was formally charged on October 30, a day after Chattha was arrested outside the courtroom for failing to appear. Mazari maintained that a video showed him “in and outside the courtroom.”
After his release, Chattha told reporters that he had arrived five minutes early for the Oct. 29 proceeding, but that the judge had issued an arrest warrant “in front of him.”
