ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday halted the cybercrime trial of prominent human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, after their lawyers argued that a lower court had recorded witness testimony in their absence, violating due-process rules.

Mazari-Hazir, one of Pakistan’s most outspoken civil liberties lawyers, and Chattha are being prosecuted under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) over posts on X that authorities say incited ethnic divisions and portrayed the military as involved in “terrorism.” Both reject the allegations. If convicted under the relevant PECA provision, they face a prison term of up to 14 years.

The case has drawn broad attention in Pakistan’s legal community because Mazari-Hazir, who has been repeatedly detained over her criticism of the security establishment, argues that the trial court ignored basic procedural guarantees despite her medical leave request. The case also comes as Pakistan faces sustained scrutiny over the use of PECA against activists, journalists and political dissenters, with lawyers arguing that lower courts often move ahead without meeting minimum fair-trial standards.

The couple’s lawyer, Riasat Ali Azad, said his clients filed a petition in the Supreme Court because the lower court had moved ahead improperly.

“Today, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has stayed the lower court proceedings, the trial court proceedings and has said that the [Islamabad] High Court should decide our pending revision petition for which a date has already been fixed,” he told reporters.

Azad said the violation was clear under Pakistan’s Code of Criminal Procedure, which requires evidence to be recorded in the presence of the accused.

“Yet, on that very day, evidence of four witnesses was recorded in their absence, and a state counsel was appointed to conduct cross-examination on their behalf,” he said. “All these things are against the right to a fair trial under Articles 10 and 10-A.”

A three-judge bench led by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar ordered the trial court to pause proceedings and instructed the Islamabad High Court to hear the couple’s pending criminal revision petition first.

The trial had been scheduled to resume on Dec.15, but the Supreme Court’s stay now freezes proceedings before both the additional sessions judge and the special PECA court. 

The Islamabad High Court is expected to hear the criminal revision petition next week.

Chattha, who is also a lawyer, said the SC ruling underscored the need for procedural safeguards.

“It is a victory for the constitution and the law,” he said, arguing that the trial court had ignored their request to re-record witness statements in their presence.