Islamabad ATC grants Imaan Mazari, Ali Wazir bail in sedition case

An Islamabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday granted human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and former lawmaker Ali Wazir post-arrest bail in a sedition case.

Wazir was arrested on August 19, while Imaan was picked up from her home during the early hours of August 20. A pair of first information reports (FIR) were registered against the two at Islamabad’s Tarnol police station and Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police station.

The arrests were made two days after a public meeting, organised by the Pashtun Tahaffuz Move­ment (PTM). Wazir, a PTM member, and Imaan had both addressed the rally, with videos circulating on social media showing speakers critici­sing the military establis­hment over enfor­ced disappearances.

On August 22, an Islamabad court had granted Imaan post-arrest bail in a rioting and dacoity case. However, she remained in police custody in connection with the sedition case.

Meanwhile, an Islamabad ATC on August 24 had rejected the prosecution’s request to extend Imaan and Wazir’s physical remand in the sedition case and sent the two to Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on judicial remand.

At the same time, Imaan’s counsel Zainab Janjua had filed a petition seeking her post-arrest bail.

Today, Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain presided over the hearing at the outset of which a script of Imaan’s speech from the PTM rally was read out aloud.

As the prosecution presented its argument, it opposed granting bail to Imaan and Wazir. It informed the court that a report on the contents of a USB in Imaan’s possession had not yet arrived and that the “forensics of the event were still needed”.