Pak's human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab her husband arrested in Islamabad

Islamabad, Jan 23 (PTI) Pakistan's prominent human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha, were arrested on Friday while they were en route to a court in Islamabad.
    The couple was en route to appear in the Additional District and Sessions Court in the controversial tweets case, in which Judge Mohammad Afzal Majoka had issued arrest warrants on January 16.
    Mazari-Hazir's mother, Dr Shireen Mazari, who was human rights minister in the government of Imran Khan, confirmed the arrest, saying that her daughter and son-in-law "have been arrested, put in separate cars, and taken away to unknown locations."
    "Fascism at its peak. Emasculated men in power must be so pleased with this achievement!" Mazari added in a post on X.
    Mazari also shared videos showing police vehicles trailing the lawyers’ car, with officers stopping the vehicle and opening its doors.
    In a separate post, Mazari claimed that the police "used violence on the bar leaders, [including] breaking the windows of the car, etc".
    "Seems they (police) used violence on Imaan and Hadi also," Mazari alleged in another post.
    The couple spent two consecutive nights in the office of Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) President Wajid Ali Gilani to evade arrest.
    Gilani, who was with Mazari-Hazir at the time of the arrest, claimed that the authorities had made a commitment that the couple would not be arrested when going to appear before the court.
    He also claimed that the police subjected the lawyers to violence and broke the vehicles’ windows, forcing Mazari-Hazir and Hadi out of the car, adding that police officials also "pushed down (IHCBA) Secretary Manzoor Jajja" and also subjected him to violence.
    "The authorities should stop this oppression. If they do not, then the 2007 lawyers’ movement will be launched again," Gilani asserted, as he warned of protest.
    The IHCBA, the Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) and the Islamabad Bar Council (IBC) issued separate statements condemning the arrest.
    The IHCBA and IBA announced a strike for today (Friday), and the IBC called on lawyers to observe a strike on Saturday.
    The case against the couple, which pertains to a controversial social media post, stems from a complaint filed on Aug 12, 2025, at the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) in Islamabad. They were indicted in the case on October 30 last year.
    The NCCIA complaint accused Mazari-Hazir of “propagating narratives that align with hostile terrorist groups and proscribed organisations”, while her husband was implicated for reposting some of her posts.
    Judge Majoka had issued arrest warrants for the couple on January 16, a day after cancelling their interim bail due to repeated non-appearances.
    An old case registered in July 2025 against the duo emerged this week, based on allegations about a protest by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). They secured pre-arrest bail in the case.
    On Thursday, Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra dismissed their pre-arrest bail applications in another case about a scuffle outside the Islamabad High Court in September last year.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)