Imaan Mazari alleges mistreatment as court hears tweet case via video link

Human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband, Advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, were produced before a district and sessions court in Islamabad through a video link on Saturday, where Mazari alleged mistreatment 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 outset, the judge asked the accused whether they would begin cross-examination, noting that it was the final day for cross-examination in light of Islamabad High Court orders.

“Is the media present in court?” Mazari asked during the hearing before alleging, “We are being subjected to torture. We are not being given food or water.”

Addressing the judge directly, she said, “You are just doing your job,” and added, “Everything that is happening is because of you.”

Mazari then announced, “We are boycotting the court proceedings.”

The judge responded by asking, “You mean you do not want to be part of the proceedings?” 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 the court staff to record the entire proceedings, saying, “Record everything and provide it to me.”

Earlier in the day, the court allowed Mazari and her husband to be produced via video link after police sought permission, citing security concerns and requesting five to six hours to ensure their physical production.

Also read: Lawyers Imaan, Hadi sent on 14-day judicial remand by Islamabad ATC after arrest

The hearing took place at the District and Sessions Courts in Islamabad, where Judge Majoka had earlier directed the SSP Operations and the deputy director of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency to ensure the accused were presented before the court at 10am. He had remarked that Saturday was the last day for cross-examination under the high court’s order.

Police officials submitted their reply during the hearing, stating that due to security issues and other reasons, video-link appearance should be allowed.

Mazari and Chattha were arrested on Friday near the underpass outside Serena Hotel while on their way to the district courts. An anti-terrorism court later sent them on a 14-day judicial remand.

Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari, Imaan’s mother, said in a post on X that the couple had been “covertly presented” before the anti-terrorism court, lawyers were not allowed inside, and the first information report was not provided despite court orders.

She later claimed they were “never even presented before the judge” and were kept in a vehicle and taken away to conceal their condition following what she described as violence during and after arrest.

According to the FIR shared by Shireen Mazari, the case includes charges under multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, the Peaceful Assembly and Public Order 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 present at the scene alleged that police personnel forcibly seized mobile phones from reporters covering the arrests. Journalist Asad Ali Toor told The Express Tribune he saw police manhandle Mazari and severely 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 over a peaceful protest “trivialises the anti-terrorism law.”