A court of sessions and districts of Islamabad recalled on Wednesday the arrest orders not on the stock market issued against human rights defenders and the lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha after the two appeared in the Court.
The arrest orders had been issued yesterday for the two lawyers for not appearing before the court in a case related to controversial tweets. A Junior lawyer informed the court that Mazari and Chattha had gone to another appearance at Rawalpindi after marking his earlier assistance in the day.
The case was heard by Judge Mohammad Afzal Majoka, with the police deployed outside the courtroom to obtain tense security.
While the couple appeared in the court today, they did not respond with confirmation or denial when the charges against them were read.
“We will hire lawyers and we can respond to the court regarding this after that,” Chattha said. “We have submitted a new application with respect to our documents … You cannot make an accusation until this request is decided.”
The accused had previously requested to obtain his written statements presented to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under Section 161 (Witness Exam) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC) and other documents. Section 161 deals with the power of the Police to examine witnesses orally during an investigation and reduce their statements to writing.
Judge Majoka then ordered the National Agency for Investigation of the Cyber Crime (Nccia) to provide the documents to the lawyers and postponed the hearing until 11:30 am
When the hearing resumed, Judge Majoka issued an order on the miscellaneous request of the accused couple for the documents.
The former president of the Bar Association of the Superior Court of Islamabad, Riasat Ali Azad, together with the president of the Islamabad Bar Association, Naeem Gujjar, and its former president Qaiser Imam, also appeared before the court.
The Prosecutor’s Office had initially expressed ignorance about the written statements, but once the judge began to issue the order, the statements were delivered to Mazari and Chattha.
Subsequently, the two decided to challenge the trial procedures until the current framed stage of the charges and their lawyers requested additional time from the Court. The application was accepted and the hearing was postponed until October 7.
Last week, Mazari filed a complaint letter about “inaction” in his harassment complaint in the workplace against the Superior Court of Islamabad (IHC), Sarfraz Dogar.
On September 11, Judge Dogar had warned Mazari about a case of contempt to the case of the Court and it was reported that it had gone as far as the approval of the warning comments in the line of “getting it.” Multiple attorneys issued condemnatory statements in reaction and requested the dismissal of the judge of Judge Top of IHC.
Mazari had also approached an investigation committee of the IHC and the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against Dowar Justice.
