Hadi Ali Chattha, husband of rights activist and lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, was arrested from outside the courtroom in Islamabad on Wednesday in a case related to controversial social media posts.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Muhammad Afzal Majoka issued an arrest warrant for him at the hearing and adjourned the proceedings until tomorrow.
Mazari also posted[1] on X about the arrest, saying: “My husband, Hadi Ali, has been arrested because Judge Majoka is insistent on committing misconduct. Hadi appeared in court today and despite his appearance the … judge ordered his arrest.”
Sharing a picture of the short order, she termed it “completely illegal” in a subsequent post[2], saying there was video evidence inside and outside the courtroom of Hadi being present.
“Today case was fixed for framing of charge and prosecution evidence. Hadi Ali Chattha accused has intentionally not appeared in court. Hence, his bail bonds are forfeited and non-bailable warrant of arrest be issued against him” for tomorrow, the short order said.
In a video shared by journalist Matiullah Jan on X, Chattha claimed there had been three hearings in the case since morning and he was present in the courtroom but the judge had refused to come out from his chambers while conveying the message that he would issue an arrest warrant for him.
“I am saying to him that I am present so why will you issue my arrest warrant. If there is any proceeding then tell me I am present in court. This is misconduct that he is refusing to come out from his chambers and is saying from inside: ‘No, you go away and I want to issue your arrest warrant.’”
Chattha said it would be a “great injustice” if lawyers were tried in courts, proceedings were not conducted and then judges said that they would issue arrest warrants for them no matter what.
Journalist Saqib Bashir said the entire situation was “surprising” since arrest warrants were issued to ensure appearance in court and were normally cancelled when those undergoing trial appeared in court.
Journalist Baqi Sajjad termed[3] the arrest a “continuation of the persecution of the human rights activists”.
According to the first information report (FIR) of the case, registered by the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency, Mazari and Chattha were accused of attempting to incite divisions on linguistic grounds through social media posts and of creating the impression that the armed forces were engaged in terrorism within the country.
The FIR alleged that they held security forces responsible for cases of missing persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
It stated that Mazari and Chattha had portrayed the armed forces as ineffective against proscribed groups, including Balochistan Liberation Army and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan.
The case has been registered under Sections 9, 10, 11 and 26 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016.