IHC suspends ATC's order to grant physical remand of Imaan Mazari, husband

• IHC two-member bench suspends ATC’s order.
• IHC bench headed by CJ Aamir Farooq seeks report from police.
• Imaan's husband abused, slapped policeman, claims FIR.

ISLAMABAD: In a major development, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday suspended the physical remand of human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Abdul Hadi Ali Chatta in a terrorism case lodged against them for “creating security risk”.

Hearing a petition filed against an anti-terrorist court's (ATC) order to grant the couple’s three-day physical remand, a two-member divisional bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz suspended their physical remand. The court served a notice on the Islamabad Capital Territory police and sought their reply today (Thursday).

A day earlier, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) handed over the couple to the police in a case pertaining to alleged interference in the government’s affairs.

The duo — Mazari and her husband — were taken into custody in the federal capital after they attempted to remove the road blockades placed for the visiting England team’s traffic protocol last week.

The FIR includes Sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of the offence committed in prosecution of common object) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) along with Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

Furthermore, the FIR — registered on the complaint of Sub-Inspector Tanveer Athar — also included PPC's Sections 506(ii) (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy).

It stated that a route was fixed for international teams' — which enjoy the status of a state guest so as to protect them against any terror attacks — to commute at Faisal Avenue when Imaan removed the barriers and provoked the people there.

The suspect, it adds, called for the barrier to be removed and started shouting when another lawyer — her husband Hadi, — also arrived at the scene and started hurling threats to the police officers.

Imaan's husband abused and slapped a policeman, according to the FIR.