Imaan Mazari, Hadi Chattha Sentenced to 10 Years Each in Security Barrier Case

A Rawalpindi anti-terrorism court has sentenced human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, to 10 years in prison each in the security barrier case. Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra announced the verdict on Thursday at Adiala Jail, where the trial had been conducted as a jail trial.

The verdict at Adiala Jail

Under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the court awarded each of them 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000. It also sentenced each to two years plus a Rs50,000 fine under Section 353 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and one year plus a Rs50,000 fine under Section 186. That takes the total fine on each to Rs200,000. The court ruled that all the sentences will run concurrently, so the couple will effectively serve 10 years each, with the period already spent in custody counted towards the sentence.

What the case was about

The case was registered at Islamabad’s Aabpara Police Station on 25 October 2024. Prosecutors alleged that during the England cricket team’s tour, when a Test match was being played in Rawalpindi, the couple removed security barriers near Islamabad’s Zero Point and interfered with police on duty, including allegations of slapping officers and striking them with metal knuckles. The court indicted the two on 7 October. During the trial the prosecution presented seven witnesses, and a state counsel cross-examined them.

The defence case, and the plan to appeal

The couple have denied the allegations, calling them fabricated. In her statement, Mazari said she had been on her way to an anti-terrorism court to represent a client and was in a hurry when police blocked the road in the name of security for the visiting team — even though, she said, the team had already reached the stadium by an alternative route and there was no written order from a magistrate authorising the closure. She said a plainclothes officer threw an iron rod at her, injuring her, and that her husband had acted only to protect her. Before the verdict, defence counsel Aimal Mandokhail asked the court to defer its decision, arguing that petitions filed by the couple were still pending before the Supreme Court and the high court, including an application to transfer the case. The court went ahead anyway. The defence says it will challenge the decision. This ruling is separate from the social-media posts case against the couple.