ISLAMABAD: Lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, challenged their conviction in the controversial social media posts case by filing separate criminal appeals in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday.

The appeals sought to have the trial court’s Jan 24 verdict, which sentenced the couple to jail on multiple charges under the Prevention of Electr­onic Crimes Act (Peca), declared null and void.

In their appeals, Ms Maza­ri and Mr Chattha contended that the impugned judgement was passed in blatant violation of settled legal principles and mandatory procedural requi­rements. They argued that the trial court proceeded to pronounce the verdict despite the fact that an application seeking transfer of the case was pending adjudication before the IHC, rendering the decision “unlawful and without jurisdiction”.

According to the appe­als, once a transfer application was filed and pending before a superior court, the trial court was barred from proceeding further in the matter.

The appellants maintained that any judgement delivered under such circumstances was void ab initio and liable to be set aside on this ground alone.

The appeals further assailed the conduct of the trial, alleging that the right of defence was effectively taken away under the guise of ensuring transparency.

They argued that the tr­­ial court curtailed the def­ence’s opportunity to ef­­fe­ctively cross-examine witnesses and present its case.

They further questioned the leg­ality of the proceedings conducted through video link from jail.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2026