ISLAMABAD: Lawyers in Pakistan’s capital have gone on strike and will stage a protest today, Monday, against a court’s decision sentencing rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha to a cumulative 17 years in prison over social media posts, a senior Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) member said.

Mazari-Hazir and Chattha were arrested on Friday while they were on their way to a court appearance, after which they were remanded to two weeks in judicial custody. Authorities had accused Mazari-Hazir and Chattha of violating the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) over posts on X that they said incited ethnic divisions and portrayed the military as being involved in “terrorism.” Both deny the allegations. 

In a written verdict on Saturday, Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka said the prosecution had proved its case against both defendants under Sections 9, 10 and 26-A of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), while acquitting them of a separate hate-speech charge.

A joint meeting of the IBA, Islamabad Bar Council and Islamabad High Court Bar Association was held on Saturday. The IBA announced a three-day strike from Jan. 26-28 against Mazari-Hazir and Chattha’s arrest following the meeting. It said the strike was also being held against the police’s alleged manhandling of senior IBA members while the couple was arrested, adding that lawyers were not allowed to attend their hearing. 

“Since then, the sentence has been announced, which we believe was done without hearing the accused, a key legal requirement,” IBA Secretary Raja Khawar Nawaz Dhanyal told Arab News. “We therefore also protest the sentencing of Imaan and Hadi and demand that the sentence be suspended. We will also hold a rally today.”

An earlier press release from the IBA said the rally would take place at 11:00 am at the district court in Islamabad’s G-11 sector. 

Dhanyal said the IBA also demands that full details of any cases lodged against Mazari-Hazir and Chattha should be disclosed. 

Islamabad High Court Bar Association President Wahid Gilani also said its members were observing a strike against the sentencing.

 “It’s a day-long strike, we will decided next line of action in the evening,” Gilani told Arab News. 

Separately, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it was organizing a protest against the Mazari-Hazir and Chattha’s arrest in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi on Monday evening. 

The rights body said the protest will be held at the Karachi Press Club at 4:30 pm. 

“HRCP Chairperson Asad Butt appeals to activists, lawyers and civil society members to join the protest to reclaim civil space and defend freedom of expression in Pakistan,” it said. 

Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had reacted to news of the couple’s sentencing on Saturday by writing on social media platform: “As you sow, so shall you reap.”