Barrier removal case: ATC to announce verdict in case against Imaan Mazari, Hadi Ali Chattha today

ATC framed charges against them on October 7, and the court subsequently recorded statements from all seven prosecution witnesses.

The trial was later shifted to Adiala Jail amid disputes over the accused’s production in court and defence lawyers’ access to their clients.During today's hearing, presided over by ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra, both the defence and prosecution completed their final arguments.

Prosecutor Raja Naveed Hussain Kayani concluded his submissions before the court.Defence counsel Aimal Khan Mandokhail also submitted a written application seeking to defer the verdict until pending petitions before the Supreme Court and the Islamabad High Court (IHC) were decided."Until our petitions are heard, the court cannot legally announce its verdict," Mandokhail argued.He further informed the court that an application seeking the transfer of the case was pending before the….

They argued that the trial court initiated proceedings in haste without granting them adequate time and recorded the statements of prosecution witnesses in a single day.The petition further maintained that removing security barriers did not constitute terrorism, alleging that the trial was intended to harass the accused and subject them to political victimisation.

The applicants claimed that the objective was to keep them behind bars.Read: State counsel completes cross-examination in Imaan, Hadi security breach caseEarlier this month, the couple had also approached the IHC seeking to suspend the trial, alleging procedural violations in the framing of charges, including that they had not been physically present when indicted and had not received copies of relevant documents.The IHC heard their appeals and said it would….

The court dismissed their request for an interim order on petitions seeking the removal of anti-terrorism provisions from the case.

However, it issued notices to the relevant parties on their separate plea seeking suspension of the trial proceedings.In January, the couple was handed a combined 17-year sentence on multiple charges linked to controversial social media posts that the prosecution argued amounted to an anti-state narrative under cybercrime laws.

The same month, they filed applications for suspension of their sentences.Later, Imaan and her husband Hadi were rearrested on September 17, shortly after the Supreme Court granted them bail and suspended their sentences in the social-media posts case.

They were produced before an Islamabad ATC in connection with a case registered at Kohsar Police Station.Police sought 30-day physical remand, but ATC Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain rejected the request and sent the couple on judicial remand.

The judge noted that although they had been nominated in the FIR as members of an unlawful assembly, no weapon had been attributed to either accused.

Barrier removal case: ATC to announce verdict in case against Imaan Mazari, Hadi Ali Chattha today Imran Asghar | Updated 13 minutes ago | Defence counsel seeks to defer verdict until pending petitions before the SC, IHC decided.