A two-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim heard their appeals seeking suspension of their sentences on Thursday.
The court granted bail to both Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chatha against surety bonds of Rs200,000 each.
The Supreme Court also ordered that the trial court’s sentences would remain suspended until a final decision is reached in the case pending before the Islamabad High Court.
During the hearing, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan addressed the couple’s lawyer Faisal Siddiqui and observed that both were lawyers and that the court was respecting their status. He asked that they also be told to maintain the decorum of the court, adding that there was a clear difference between the conduct expected of a lawyer and an ordinary person.
Faisal Siddiqui read out various court orders issued during hearings before the Islamabad High Court.
He told the Supreme Court that in its initial order on May 12, the apex court had directed the Islamabad High Court to decide the application seeking suspension of the sentences at the earliest and dispose of the case on a priority basis within two weeks.
On January 24 this year, an Islamabad sessions court had sentenced Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chatha to a total of 17 years in prison each under different provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).
The sentences included 10 years for cyber terrorism, five years for promoting an offence and two years for disseminating allegedly baseless information.
The couple had initially been arrested on January 23 in a case related to a protest outside the Islamabad High Court and alleged misconduct with the president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association. They were sentenced in the separate social media case the following day.
The case against Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chatha was registered on August 12, 2025, at the FIA Cyber Crime Reporting Centre on the complaint of an assistant director of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA).
According to the FIR, the accused were alleged to have promoted anti-state narratives and narratives of proscribed organisations, as well as making allegedly baseless and controversial allegations against security forces regarding Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
The couple had filed appeals before the Islamabad High Court in February seeking suspension of their sentences. After the high court rejected their request, they approached the Supreme Court.
The apex court has now granted them interim relief by suspending their sentences and ordering their release on bail pending further proceedings.
