Court issues non-bailable arrest warrants for Iman Mazari, her husband

ISLAMABAD: A local court in Islamabad has issued non-bailable arrest warrants for human rights activist and lawyer Iman Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, in the controversial tweet case.

When Additional District and Sessions Judge Islamabad took up the case, bboth Mazari and Chattha failed to appear during the court hours.

The judge then issued show-cause notices to both, asking why their bail should not be cancelled for failing to appear.

The court observed that the accused appeared to have deliberately avoided attending the proceedings, while three prosecution witnesses were present in court.

Subsequently, the judge issued non-bailable arrest warrants for both Mazari and Chattha and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow.

Earlier, Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka indicted the couple, though Mazari and Chattha pleaded not guilty to the charges.

On October 30, advocate Hadi Ali Chattha was arrested moments after the same court issued his arrest warrants in the case related to controversial tweets allegedly against state and national security institutions.

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has registered a case against the couple.

According to the FIR filed by the NCCIA, Mazari and her husband attempted to incite ethnic division through their social media posts.

The FIR further alleges that they blamed security forces for the issue of missing persons in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

The case has been registered under Sections 9, 10, 11, and 26 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).