Adiala Jail official faces contempt of court

ISLAMABAD:

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday issued a contempt of court notice to the Adiala jail superintendent over the alleged failure to facilitate the signing and transmission of powers of attorney (vakalatnamas) needed for filing bail petitions for human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Hazir-Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha.

The court also expressed displeasure over the failure to produce the two accused through video link despite an earlier direction, with no representative of Adiala Jail appearing before the court.

ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra directed the superintendent to explain why he should not be sentenced to six months in prison for allegedly disobeying court orders.

The development follows Tuesday's return of the bail petitions filed by Imaan and Hadi in the Kohsar police station protest case over the absence of signed powers of attorney.

During Saturday's proceedings, the judge questioned why the jail authorities had failed to obtain the accused persons' signatures on the documents required to authorise their lawyers to represent them in the bail proceedings.