NCCIA challenges SC verdict ordering IHC to decide Imaan, Hadi's sentence suspension in 2 weeks

ISLAMABAD: The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on Monday challenged before the Supreme Court its May 12 order that required the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to decide in two weeks the sentence suspension pleas of lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha in the controversial social media posts case. Meanwhile, despite the SC’s May 26 deadline having passed already, the IHC today, on the request of the prosecution, adjourned the hearing of Imaan and Hadi’s pleas seeking suspension of their sentences. The husband-wife duo were sentenced in the case on January 24, with subsequent petitions being filed against their conviction in early February. On May 12, more than three months after the pleas were filed, the SC gave the IHC two weeks to decide on the lawyer couple’s petitions. On Monday, the NCCIA requested the SC to recall and withdraw that order to help preserve the “sanctity and independence of the judiciary, maintaining equality among citizens and avoiding discriminatory treatment towards the couple merely on account of being members of the Bar”. The petition claimed that no exceptional or extraordinary circumstances have been pointed out by the couple in their earlier plea that warranted an intervention by the SC in a pending matter before the IHC. In December 2025, Imaan and her husband had moved the SC to set aside IHC’s decision that denied interim relief in the controversial social media post case. They had argued that the high court had “erroneously and illegally refused” to exercise the discretion to grant ad-interim relief to them to stay the criminal trial, as recording of evidence before the trial court in their absence was not only a violation of Section 353 CrPC, but also their due process and fair trial rights under Article 10A of the Constitution. Now, the NCCIA has contended that the couple had invoked the jurisdiction of the SC under Article 185(3) of the Constitution under the pretext of an “order” in which IHC had iss