On Thursday, human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, were rearrested hours after the Supreme Court suspended their sentences in the controversial social media posts case.

The couple was sentenced to 17 years on multiple charges under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca). However, soon after their release on Thursday, Islamabad police personnel arrested the two outside Adiala jail in connection with another case and produced them before an anti-terrorism court, which sent them to jail on judicial remand.

The fresh case was registered at the federal capital’s Kohsar police station on March 22, 2025 on a complaint by City Magistrate Ghulam Murtaza Chandio. Imaan and her husband were accused of chanting anti-government slogans and blocking roads and were named in the first information report (FIR).

The arrests were widely criticised, with journalists and lawyers expressing concern at the “mockery of justice” on display.

“Imaan and Hadi’s continued incarceration sends a broader, disgraceful message. No court order makes a difference if the state wants you in jail,” said lawyer Rida Hosain on X.

“This should be frightening for any person that believes in the rule of law,” she added.

Digital rights advocate Usama Khilji, reacting to the development, said, “Welcome to Pakistan where law of the jungle is supreme.”

Dawn journalist Baqir Sajjad Syed noted that the couple’s arrest “raised a serious question as to why is judicial relief not being allowed to take effect”.

“After all, an SC order cannot be rendered meaningless at the prison gate,” he added.

Journalist Matiullah Jan questioned why the previous case was never investigated alongside the social media posts case, alleging that this showed the move was “an act of mala fide on the part of the government”.

“There is no law and no order in the country as the government first defies SC orders and now bypasses them with fake FIRs like these. This is happening only and only because of the surrender of judiciary and the SC in particular,” he said.

“Shame on those in executive, judiciary and parliament who are facilitating this miscarriage of justice,” he added.

Lawyer Reema Omer described the couple’s arrest as “heartbreaking and terrifying”.

“Imaan and Hadi sent to judicial custody by an anti-terrorism court for 14 days for being part of an ‘unlawful assembly’ the same day the SC suspended their atrocious Peca sentences and ordered their release on bail,” she said.

“A tyrannical state relishing its cruelty,” she added.

Pakistan’s former ambassador to the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Nations, Maleeha Lodhi, in a post on X, said, “This really is the limit. It’s reprehensible”.

“[The] law means nothing anymore,” journalist Absa Komal said.

“Madness,” said journalist Zebunnisa Burki in a post on X.

Former senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan said that the couple’s arrest was a “mockery of the SC’s order, law and human rights”.

“Pakistan has been turned into a slaughterhouse for dissenting voices,” he said.

“There is no shaming the shameless,” lawyer Abdul Moiz Jaferii said.

UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Margaret Satterthwaite expressed concern over Imaan and Hadi’s re-arrest, noting that the latest arrests were over allegations that the two lawyers chanted anti-government slogans and blocked roads during a March 2025 protest.

She noted that in prior communication with Pakistan, Satterthwaite and her colleagues “raised serious concern that the pattern of prosecutions against Imaan and Hadi appears to be an arbitrary use of the legal system as an instrument of harassment and intimidation”.

“We urged Pakistan to clarify the legal and factual basis for the proceedings and to ensure that Imaan and Hadi can carry out their professional duties without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference, in accordance with international human rights standards. Unfortunately, the Government has not replied to this letter,” she wrote on X.