Supreme Court will hear Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha’s pleas seeking suspension of their sentences in the controversial social media posts case on August 19.
ISLAMABAD: The legal battle involving lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha is set to enter another crucial stage, with the Supreme Court scheduled to hear their petitions seeking suspension of their sentences on Aug. 19.
A two-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, with Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim as the other member, will take up the petitions. Notices have been issued to the parties concerned, giving them an opportunity to present their positions before the court.
The petitions relate to sentences handed down to Mazari and Chattha in a case concerning controversial social media posts. Their legal challenge has moved through several stages before the Islamabad High Court and the Supreme Court.
In January 2026, an Islamabad sessions court sentenced both lawyers to 17 years in prison in the case under provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. The convictions were subsequently challenged before the Islamabad High Court, which in February declined to suspend their sentences.
The Supreme Court has already dealt with the matter during earlier proceedings. In May, a three-member bench directed the Islamabad High Court to decide the sentence-suspension pleas within two weeks and kept the matter pending before the apex court until the high court reached a decision.
The Islamabad High Court later declared the sentence-suspension applications maintainable in July, dismissing a prosecution objection challenging their maintainability.
The Supreme Court subsequently continued proceedings concerning the matter. In July, the apex court adjourned a hearing amid proceedings before the Islamabad High Court, highlighting the interaction between the two sets of proceedings.
The Aug. 19 hearing will focus on the requests for suspension of the sentences and the legal arguments advanced by the petitioners and respondents. It is not, by itself, necessarily a final determination of every issue arising from the underlying criminal case.
The proceedings are being closely watched because the case involves the application of cybercrime law to social media content and raises broader legal questions about online expression and criminal liability for digital posts.
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