The Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to lawyer and rights activist Imaan Mazari and her husband, advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, pending a final decision by the Islamabad High Court on their applications seeking suspension of their sentences.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim also suspended the trial court’s decision and granted the couple bail against surety bonds of Rs200,000 each.
Mazari and Chattha were sentenced to a combined 17 years in prison in January 2026 in cases related to social media posts that the prosecution alleged promoted an anti-state narrative under cybercrime laws.
They subsequently approached the Islamabad High Court seeking suspension of their sentences.
During Thursday’s hearing, Additional Attorney General Rana Asad opposed the bail pleas, arguing that the IHC had yet to issue a decision on the prosecution’s case.
He maintained that the trial court had already provided seven opportunities and argued that the IHC was the appropriate forum for seeking suspension of sentence under Section 426.
Justice Afghan questioned the repeated delays in proceedings before the IHC and asked what had happened following the Supreme Court’s earlier order directing the High Court to decide the matter.
Defence counsel Faisal Siddiqui told the bench that the Supreme Court had initially ordered on May 12 that the IHC decide the applications within two weeks. He also presented order sheets from several hearings before the High Court.
Siddiqui criticised the repeated adjournments and said the High Court had repeatedly postponed proceedings, while the registrar’s office had also rejected the defence’s request for an early hearing.
The IHC had scheduled September 8 to hear Mazari and Chattha’s applications but adjourned the proceedings without a substantive hearing.The Supreme Court had previously directed the High Court to decide the applications within two weeks. At an earlier hearing, Justice Afghan had questioned the delay in the proceedings.
