ISLAMABAD: Lawyer and rights activist Imaan Mazari and husband, Advocate Hadi Ali Chattha, were arrested by police on Friday.
The couple was arrested on their way to the district and sessions court in Islamabad from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Bar.
It may be noted that an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the federal capital had dismissed the bail applications of Mazari and Chattha in a case related to altercation case outside the the IHC.
The case was registered on the complaint of IHC Bar President, Wajid Ali Gilani, over a heated exchange of words during a protest outside the bar office. Both had filed pre-arrest bail applications in this matter.
Moreover, the two had also been summoned by Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka in the controversial tweets case today. The local court judge had directed Mazari and Chattha to appear at 8:30am today upon their repeated absence in the past few hearings.
The two are booked in a case registered by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) under Sections 9, 10, 11 and 26 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca), 2016 and were subsequently indicted on October 30.
The first information report (FIR) alleges that the couple attempted to incite divisions on linguistic grounds through social media posts.
However, their bail was restored by the IHC earlier this week.
Last month, Mazari and Chattha filed an application in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), expressing distrust in Judge Majoka and seeking the transfer of the controversial tweets case to another court.
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.
