Lawyer and husband boycott Islamabad court proceedings over ‘controversial tweet’ case
Lawyer and human rights activist Imaan Mazari and her husband, defender Hadi Ali Chattha. PHOTO: EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
Human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband, lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha, appeared before a district and sessions court in Islamabad via video link on Saturday, where Mazari alleged ill-treatment in custody and announced a boycott of the proceedings.
The hearing in the controversial tweet case was conducted by Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka. At the beginning, the judge asked the accused whether they would start cross-examination, noting that it was the last day for cross-examination in light of the Islamabad High Court orders.
“Is the media present in court?” Mazari asked during the hearing before claiming: “We are being subjected to torture. They are not giving us food or water.”
Addressing the judge directly, he said, “You are simply doing your job,” adding, “Everything that is happening is because of you.”
Mazari then announced: “We are boycotting the judicial process.”
The judge responded by asking, “Do you mean you don’t want to be part of the process?” and told them to “wait for the decision.”
Before the hearing concluded, Mazari and Chattha stood up and left their chairs while still on the video link. Judge Majoka ordered court staff to record the entire process and said: “Record everything and give it to me.”
Earlier in the day, the court allowed Mazari and her husband to be presented via video link after police sought permission, citing security concerns and requesting five to six hours to ensure their physical appearance.
Also Read: Lawyers Imaan and Hadi sent to 14-day judicial remand by Islamabad ATC after arrest
The hearing took place at the district and session courts in Islamabad, where Justice Majoka had earlier ordered the SSP operations and the deputy director of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency to ensure that the accused were produced before the court by 10 am. He had commented that Saturday was the last day for cross-examination as per the high court order.
Police officers submitted their response during the hearing, stating that due to security and other reasons the appearance should be allowed by video link.
Mazari and Chattha were arrested on Friday near the underpass in front of Hotel Serena while they were on their way to the district courts. An anti-terrorism court subsequently remanded them to judicial remand for 14 days.
Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari, Imaan’s mother, said in a post on
She later claimed that they “were not even brought before the judge” and that they were kept in a vehicle and taken away to conceal their condition after what she described as violence during and after the arrest.
According to the FIR shared by Shireen Mazari, the case includes charges under multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, the Public Order and Peaceful Assembly Act and the Anti-Terrorism Act. The case relates to a protest by lawyers against a session of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan on February 10 last year.
Journalists at the scene alleged that police personnel forcibly confiscated the mobile phones of journalists covering the arrests. Journalist Asad Ali Toor said The express PAkGazette She saw the police manhandle Mazari and brutally beat her husband during the arrest.
Islamabad High Court Bar Association president Wajid Gilani and former senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokar also condemned the arrests, with Khokar saying the inclusion of terrorism charges for a peaceful protest “trivializes the anti-terrorism law.”
