ISLAMABAD: Human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, have said that the case against them pertaining to a security breach was “nothing more than harassment” for their legal and human rights work, falling under the broader pattern of targeting through “reprisals”.
On Tuesday, the case concluded at Adiala Jail, with the anti-terrorism court (ATC) reserving its verdict. Both human rights activists recorded their statements under Section 342 (power to examine the accused) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, while final arguments by the state counsel also concluded during the proceedings.
Imaan and Hadi are facing a jail trial in a 2024 case on the alleged disruption of an international cricket team’s security route and incitement to public unrest. The couple, accused of removing barriers from the route, were indicted on Oct 7.
“The evidence produced during this trial is not against us, but in fact a charge sheet against [prosecution witnesses] police officials and the state,” Imaan and Hadi said in their separate similar recorded statements.
Lament that evidence produced during trial is ‘not against them, rather a charge-sheet against state’
They said that the prosecution witnesses were part and parcel of the state machinery that had targeted them for their human rights work and provision of pro bono legal assistance and services to the marginalised and oppressed communities, including street vendors and victims of false blasphemy allegations and enforced disappearances. “I am a prisoner of conscience who has been at the receiving end of state persecution,” the statements by the lawyer couple said.
Imaan pointed out that the entire jail trial had been challenged by the couple in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) as well as the Supreme Court (SC).
Further, the trial was conducted with Imaan and her husband being presented in a cage, preventing effective communication with their counsel or the court, she said.
“From day one, our constitutional rights to fair trial, due process and basic human dignity have been infringed,” she said.
On the charges against the two of removing security barriers placed in connection with the movement of an international cricket team at Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited on Faisal Avenue on Oct 25, 2024, Imaan said she and her husband were on their way to the court when the police told them that the route had been temporarily closed as an alternative route for the cricket team.
At this, Imaan said that she enquired whether the police officials had a copy of the magistrate’s order for closure, which the police did not have. She also pointed out that such an order was yet to be produced by the prosecution in the trial.
Imaan denied the prosecution testimonies, saying they were false, fabricated and contradictory to the video footage of the incident. She further held that the video had also confirmed that one of the police officials threw a barrier at her lower abdomen. “The timing and mode and manner [including both jail trial in a cage and speed of instant proceedings] of the trial reflect the objective to keep us behind bars at all costs,” Imaan said. She further said that prosecution witnesses had been directed by “higher-ups/senior officers to falsely depose against us to punish for our human rights work”.
She also noted that the couple had been incarcerated for over nine months and handed 17-year sentences a day after their arrest on Jan 23. “We are being made an example to further cement the chilling effect against those who stand against tyranny.”
Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2026
