ATC drops contempt proceedings against Adiala officials after Imaan, Hadi’s powers of attorney signed
- Jail officials allow petitioners to sign powers of attorney.
- Signing of power of attorney first step towards justice: ATC.
- SOPs on power of attorney very beneficial: Judge Supra.
ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Tuesday dropped contempt proceedings against Adiala jail officials in a case pertaining to the signing of powers of attorney by lawyer and human rights activist Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha.
ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Supra dropped the proceedings against jail officials after the powers of attorney (vakalatnamas) of Mazari and Chattha were signed.
The court had issued a show-cause notice to the Adiala jail superintendent over failure to comply with its orders concerning Mazari and Chattha in a case registered against them at the Secretariat Police Station.
During a hearing on September 26, Judge Supra was told the couple could not be produced through video link.
The Adiala jail authorities also failed to provide the signed powers of attorney of both lawyers, while no jail official appeared before the court.
The court issued a contempt of court show-cause notice to the Adiala jail superintendent and asked why he should not be sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.
During today’s proceedings, the ATC judge directed the superintendent to formulate rules regarding the signing of the power of attorney.
“If this is happening with lawyers, what happens to the vakalatnamas of ordinary people?” the judge remarked, saying, “Standard operating procedures have been very beneficial; problems occur here and there.”
Judge Supra remarked that the first step towards justice begins with the signing of the power of attorney.
Earlier this month, Mazari and her husband were arrested and sent back to Adiala jail on judicial remand by an ATC, hours after the Supreme Court had suspended their sentences and granted them bail in a separate case.
Islamabad police sources said the couple was arrested in connection with a case that includes charges of anti-state narrative, incitement, and interference in government affairs.
On the same day, the Supreme Court had suspended the couple’s sentences in a case related to controversial tweets and granted them bail against surety bonds worth Rs200,000 each, until the final decision on the case pending before the Islamabad High Court.
In January, a district and sessions court in Islamabad had sentenced Mazari and Chattha to 17 years in prison each under different sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, just a day after their arrest in another case.
The couple subsequently moved the IHC against the sentence in early February.
The couple had originally been booked by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency under Sections 9, 10, 11 and 26 of Peca, with an FIR alleging they had attempted to incite divisions on linguistic grounds through social media posts.
