ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top court on Thursday suspended an earlier verdict that sentenced human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha to 17 years in prison over social media posts, the couple’s lawyer said, ordering that they be released on bail.

Mazari-Hazir and Chattha, both lawyers, were sentenced to a cumulative 17 years in prison in January by a district and sessions judge. Both were accused 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 February, the couple filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court, asking it to suspend their sentences. In March, Mazari-Hazir approached the Supreme Court seeking suspension of her sentence, moving the apex court after the IHC did not list her application for hearing. Her petition stated that despite her counsel’s request to suspend the trial court’s judgment, the IHC only issued notices on the suspension application on February 19, and that it did not suspend the petitioner’s sentence.

On May 12, the Supreme Court ordered the IHC to decide the lawyer couple’s suspension pleas within two weeks. Despite the May 26 deadline having already passed, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) challenged the order on June 1 and sought its withdrawal. A two-member bench of the Supreme Court took up Mazari-Hazir’s plea on Thursday.

“Today they have suspended the judgment of the trial court,” Mazari-Hazir’s lawyer Faisal Siddiqi told reporters outside the top court.

“And they have ordered both Imaan and Hadi to be released on personal bond.”

The Supreme Court said the bail was granted to the couple until the final decision on the case pending before the IHC was not issued.

Siddiqi thanked lawyers and members of the civil society who supported Mazari-Hazir and Chattha since their sentencing.

Speaking to reporters outside the court, Mazari-Hazir’s mother Shireen Mazari thanked the Supreme Court for using a just verdict.

“We had hoped for justice from the Supreme Court and today, we got justice,” she added.

In its verdict in January, Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka said the prosecution had proved its case against Chattha and his wife under Sections 9 (glorification of an offense), 10 (cyberterrorism) and 26-A (dissemination of false and fake information) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.

The court imposed five years’ rigorous imprisonment each under Section 9, 10 years under Section 10, and two years under Section 26-A, to be served cumulatively, alongside fines totaling Rs 36 million ($129,000) per person.

The verdict triggered outcry in Pakistan, with lawyers and members of the civil rights society accusing authorities of intimidating and harassing Mazari-Hazir for her frequent criticism of the powerful military.