The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday directed the Islamabad High Court to decide the suspension of Iman Mazari’s sentence pleas, filed by the lawyer and rights activist Iman Mazari and her husband, activist Hadi Ali Chattha.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Shahid Waheed and comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shafi Siddiqui heard the case. The bench ruled that the matter would remain pending before the apex court until the high court issues its decision.
In January, a district and sessions court in Islamabad sentenced the couple to 17 years in prison each under different sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. The sentence was handed down a day after their arrest in another case.
The couple moved the Islamabad High Court against their sentence in early February. During Tuesday’s hearing, Mazari’s counsel, Faisal Siddiqi, told the Supreme Court that the high court had issued notices on appeals against conviction but had not resumed hearings for more than two months.
Siddiqi argued that his clients had received no relief from the Islamabad High Court and asked the Supreme Court to decide on the suspension of sentence pleas.
Justice Afghan observed that the high court had neither passed an adverse order against the petitioners nor rejected their applications for suspension of sentence. He said the Supreme Court could examine the matter on merits if the high court had dismissed the pleas.
Justice Shahid Waheed observed that the court could direct the Islamabad High Court to decide the appeals within two weeks, while counsel asked for a specific order on the suspension applications.
