September 19, 2026
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
More than 240 lawyers, academics and members of civil society have joined together in solidarity against the rearrest of Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha despite the suspension of their sentences by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 17th September 2026.
Civil society, especially from the legal community, signed on their names to condemn the rearrest. Their demands were few beginning with the release of the two lawyers who have been behind bars for a long time now. The letter demanded that all charges and criminal proceedings must be instantly dropped against Advocates Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha related to their legitimate professional activities and exercise of freedom of expression.
The letter also demanded a guarantee for the safety and due process rights of Imaan and Hadi, including protection from further arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, or intimidation. It said that all acts of harassment, intimidation, and improper interference in their legitimate professional work must be immediately stopped and lastly, all lawyers in Pakistan must be able to perform their professional duties without fear of reprisals, and free of all undue restrictions, in accordance with international standards, they said.
The letter has been signed by an independent collective of lawyers, journalists, academics and other civil society who had been strongly condemning the arbitrary re-arrest of Imaan and Hadi by the Islamabad police on 17 September 2026 only hours after the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended their sentences under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) which had given them both 17 year sentences behind bars. The Court had ordered their release on bail and Imaan and Hadi were due to be released after nearly nine months of unjust incarceration following a trial marred by contraventions of constitutional and international fair trial and due process guarantees.
To obstruct and circumvent the judicial order for their release, a separate, dormant FIR registered against Imaan and Hadi on 22 March 2025, more than a year ago, which alleges that they chanted ‘anti-government’ slogans at a protest, was produced and activated. Crucially, at the time of registration, no section of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) had been added — charges under section 7 of the ATA appear to have been added belatedly by hand.
International conventions and laws
Five mandates of United Nations Special Procedures, including the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, in a formal communication issued to the Government of Pakistan in December 2025 emphasised that “the broader pattern of prosecutions brought against Ms. Mazari-Hazir and Mr. Chattha appears to be an arbitrary use of the legal system as an instrument of harassment and intimidation, in retaliation to their work as lawyers seeking to advocate for victims of alleged human violations.”
The most recent charges reflect a continuation of this egregious pattern.
Some of the prominent names that have joined in this campaign, including Senator Farhatullah Babar, President PPP Human Rights Cell 2. Afrasiab Khattak, National Democratic Movement (NDM), Khawar Mumtaz, WAF, Tahira Abdullah, Human rights defender, Farida Shaheed, women rights activist, (WAF), Justice (R) Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, former Chair Senate Human Rights Committee, journalists Hamid Mir, Arifa Noor, Zarrar Khuhro, Advocate Supreme Court Ali Ahmed Kurd, Advocate Supreme Court Salman Akram Raja, Advocate Supreme Court Salahuddin Ahmed, Ammar Ali Jan, Academic & Activist, Mazhar Abbas, etc.