ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Islamabad on Tuesday dropped contempt proceedings against Adiala jail officials after lawyers Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, were allowed to sign their powers of attorney.
ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Supra disposed of the proceedings after the vakalatnamas of both lawyers were signed by the jail authorities.
The court had earlier issued a show-cause notice to the Adiala jail superintendent for allegedly failing to comply with its orders concerning the couple in a case registered at Secretariat Police Station.
Court seeks rules for signing powers of attorney
During Tuesday’s hearing, Judge Supra directed the Adiala superintendent to formulate standard operating procedures for signing powers of attorney.
“If this is happening with lawyers, what happens to the vakalatnamas of ordinary people?” the judge remarked.
The judge said standard operating procedures could help prevent such issues, adding that the signing of a power of attorney was the first step towards access to justice.
The court subsequently disposed of the petition concerning the powers of attorney of Mazari and Chattha.
The contempt proceedings had been initiated after the couple’s powers of attorney were not provided to the court.
During a hearing on September 26, the court was informed that Mazari and Chattha could not be produced through video link. The jail authorities also failed to provide their signed powers of attorney, while no representative from the jail appeared before the court.
The court had subsequently issued a contempt notice to the superintendent and sought an explanation as to why he should not face a six-month prison sentence.
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The ATC later heard another case involving allegations of protocol violations and violence against police by the lawyer couple.
Lawyers Riasat Ali and Zainab Janjua appeared before the court, while Mazari and Chattha attended the proceedings through video link.
The court provided the challan to the lawyers representing the accused and said charges would be framed at the next hearing.
Proceedings were adjourned until October 6, when the court is scheduled to indict the couple.
Mazari, Chattha face multiple cases
Earlier this month, Mazari and Chattha were arrested and sent to Adiala jail on judicial remand by an ATC, hours after the Supreme Court suspended their sentences and granted them bail in a separate case.
According to Islamabad police sources, the couple was arrested in connection with a case involving allegations of an anti-state narrative, incitement and interference in government affairs.
On the same day, the Supreme Court suspended their sentences in a case concerning controversial social media posts and granted them bail against surety bonds of Rs200,000 each pending a final decision by the Islamabad High Court.
In January, a district and sessions court in Islamabad sentenced Mazari and Chattha to 17 years in prison each under various provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), a day after their arrest in another case.
The couple challenged the sentences before the Islamabad High Court in early February.
They had originally been booked by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency under Sections 9, 10, 11 and 26 of PECA. The FIR alleged that their social media posts sought to incite divisions along linguistic lines.
