Imaan, Hadi allege security breach case 'nothing more than harassment' for their human rights work

Human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, have alleged 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 accused 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 available with Dawn . They claimed that the prosecution witnesses were “part and parcel” of the state machinery that had allegedly 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 read. 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…