Human rights activists Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hajir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, have been sentenced to 17 years in jail by a Pakistani, the anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, for posting messages on social networks that were declared intolerant of the government. According to court records, the persecution of the couple was led by Judge Afzal Majoka in response to their apprehension in the federal capital a day before.
The couple made an appearance through a video call, and then they left the session. This led to the trial continuing in their absence until the completion of the hearing, where family, friends, and peers criticized the ruling calling it politically motivated.
Charges, verdict, and the law
It was mentioned in the court’s verbal decree that there was evidence that Mazari had used X and other social media applications to criticise the organs of the state and advocate the propaganda of the banned outfits. The state in some documents provided evidence such as the use of posts in one of the proscribed Baloch separatist organizations and the banned Pakistani Taliban’s material.
The case started with the complaint filed in July 2021 with NCCIA. The couple was accused in December 2022 under sections of PECA. The sentence observed that the prosecution had accused the Applicant in terms of more than one section of law specifically 9, 10, 26-A of (PECA) and sentenced them for seventeen years.
Both the suspects denied the charges. The judge in one of the cases involving Mazari stated that she ‘continuously published highly offensive, misleading and anti-state material’
with purported ‘active connivance’ of her husband. The defense argued that such
statements comprised protected political speech.
Arrest and courtroom flashpoints
Mazari and Chattha were taken into custody in the Federal Capital when they were coming to some trail. The witnesses on that point shared that the police employed force in apprehending and broke car windows during the arrest operation. There were no statements made on the public mean regarding the reasons for the arrests of the suspects than.
Addressing the court via video link from jail, the two complained about the restrictions imposed by the court to allow freedom of the media into the Backbencher House and the surrounding halls. Mazari alleged abuse in custody and announced a move to boycott the attendance. The judge inquired if they planned to enter a plea and moved to judgement.
Court documents reveal that an arrest warrant was made following several unsuccessful appearances as well as the withdrawal of interim release. The pair had earlier sought shelter in a law firm in order to evade arrest.
International or local condemnation
The arrests and imprisonment of activists have been scorned both at home and overseas activists have been harshly condemned in these regions. Speaking out on the issue, Amnesty International labelled it as the “the latest escalation in a sustained campaign of judicial persecution and intimidation” and stated the necessity of switft release. People working for social issues spoke against the move stating that it may curbs the freedom of the tongue and the freedom of doing human rights work all over the country.
Bar membership groups in the Capital city of Pakistan censured the detentions and announced shutdowns of courts. A handful of senior lawyers reminded that a bigger movement could come up if the government did not stop what they called an attack on basic rights.
A woman has postless photographs of a party, standing outside of office with a treasury chest in one hand
Mazari’s mother, the former human rights minister, Shireen Mazari called the court’s judgment a completely illegal judgment and said although the two were arrested, they were taken anywhere. Fans also mentioned concerns about the abuse and harassment of persons subjected to the law.
Appreciating the verdict on the convict, Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Attaullah Tarar, lauded it, stating that the accused were sentenced under the Controversial Prevention of Cyber Act. His utterances signalled the government’s tough control of online media which is perceived to be detrimental to state security.
On the day before a likely 7–14 year jail sentence, human-rights defenders and lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chatta made their position plain: they won’t back down from their principles to avoid or survive imprisonment. Tomorrow’s verdict in Islamabad won’t change the fact… pic.twitter.com/TDEzUeovHw
— Alifya Sohail (@AlifyaSohail) December 4, 2025
Freedom of speech, its constraints, and Pakistan’s limits in Cyberspace
The matter in fact is that, there is an increasing conflict between digital freedom and national security issues in Pakistan. In view of this, the Article II and PECB Act becomes applicable if the online content criticizes the authorities especially when it concerns theing volemnce against the state.
From the point of view of practicing lawyers, PECA has provisions and anti terrorist dimension and those found to be involving false information containing messages of terrorism or incitement stand the risk of facing the severe penalties related to such messages under the PECB Act. Detractors contend that there is an open text in these laws and there is not enough protection of the rights of the citizens which results in the whole sections of the society as upwell as peacful freedom of speech and access to information is undermined on the pretext that this has to be done in national interest.
As for human rights activists, the situation is more than serious. Ms. Mazari, Ms. Chattha or their firm have also acted for journalists, politicians, or human rights anti corruption or other activists who have been illegally arrested and detained without any charge. The backers of the prosecution argue that the present case is supposed to instil fear into the defence counsel, engaged in the activities aimed at illeg detention an enforced disappearancevictims’ protection.
Defendants have the right of filing an appeal of both the conviction and the sentence in a court which is higher than the one that passed the judgment. An appeal will most likely be made to ascertain whether the comments really attract a criminal charge as stated in the law when read, and to find out whether the last judgement is in accordance with the principles of natural justice.
Civil rights activists are pressing for additional restraints against online communication and the improvement of regulation of the operation on cybercrime. They say that unless the legislation is improved, the space for actually speaking one’s mind in the open in Pakistan will further contract as people will be trying to protect themselves from the long arm of the law which will be ruthlessly enforced.
As of now, a sentence of seventeen years can be seen as a clear warning that political expressions of social media in Pakistan can be quite dangerous. It implies an even tougher stance against lawyers and activists who do not choose to toe the line and instead, resist the nature of insecurity and issues of rights violations through the use of their respective professions.
Advanced by the upper courts, it has to be seen how far the question of free vs. permissible speech, details control and, power vs. civil liberties places and positive/negative freedom will develop — within the country’s transitional period of Digital era.
