Imaan Mazari, husband released from jail on bail in terrorism case

• ATC approves bail against surety bond of Rs20,000.
• IHC strikes down physical remand on couple’s petition.
• Imaan's husband abused, slapped policeman, claims FIR.

ISLAMABAD: Prominent human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband, advocate Haadi Ali Chatha, were released from jail, hours after an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) granted them bail in the "security breach" case.

ATC Judge Tahir Abbas approved the bail against a surety bond of Rs20,000 after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) struck down the three-day physical remand handed down by ATC on Tuesday.

It also ordered the duo to be sent to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard the plea against the couple's physical remand, with lawyers Qaiser Imam and Zainab Janjua representing Mazari and Chatha in court.

During the proceedings, the prosecutor presented the remand request and also read the court order. The IHC CJ then asked the prosecutor whether it was appropriate, to which the law officer replied in affirmative.

The two-member bench then, in short order, declared the prior physical remand null and void and directed the defendants to be sent to jail on judicial remand.

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

The FIR registered against them 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 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 began hurling threats to the police officers.

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