The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday declared maintainable the applications filed by lawyer and rights activist Imaan Mazari and advocate Hadi Ali Chattha seeking suspension of their sentences in a case related to controversial social media posts.
Imaan and Chattha were sentenced in January 2026 to a combined 17 years’ imprisonment on multiple charges linked to social media posts that prosecutors argued promoted an anti-state narrative in violation of Pakistan’s cybercrime laws.
The court had reserved its decision a day earlier after hearing arguments from both the prosecution and the defence on a miscellaneous application challenging the maintainability of the sentence suspension pleas.
In its reserved verdict, Justice Muhammad Azam Khan dismissed the prosecution’s application, ruling that the petitions seeking suspension of the sentences were maintainable.
The prosecution had argued that the applications were premature.
Following the ruling, the court adjourned proceedings on the sentence suspension applications indefinitely.