Pakistan’s prominent human rights lawyer Imaan, her husband arrested

Islamabad: Pakistan’s prominent human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali were arrested on Monday for allegedly creating a security situation by interfering in the official work.

Imaan and Ali were arrested after they tried to remove barriers installed by the police on the occasion of a recently concluded test match between England and Pakistan.

“Taking legal action, Islamabad police have arrested Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali as per the law and regulations for creating a security risk by interfering in state duties during an international cricket team’s visit,” the police said in a post on X.

A case has been registered against them, and Imaan was transferred to the women’s police station, police said.

Imaan’s mother, former human rights minister Shireen Mazari, said that her daughter was arrested in the morning. “Imaan Mazari has been arrested this morning. State fascism in full swing,” she said in a post on X.

She claimed that the Islamabad police on Friday had “swung a steel barrier deliberately into her, assaulting her”, referring to a purported video being shared on X.          

She also alleged that the police action had “injured” her daughter.

It is not the first time that Imaan has been arrested.

In August last year, Imaan was arrested by the Islamabad police along with former lawmaker Ali Wazir in a sedition case over a rally made at a speech.

After getting bail in that case after more than a week, she was re-arrested outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi in a terrorism case the same day.

She was released from jail on September 2, 2023, after an Islamabad anti-terrorism court granted her post-arrest bail.