Claim: Islamabad High Court has ordered the release of lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha.
Fact: The claim is false. Both lawyers remain in custody.
On 27 February 2026, an Instagram page, UET’s Einsteins, posted that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ordered the release of lawyer and activist Imaan Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha. There is no date mentioning when this legal proceeding took place or when they would be released from detention.
The Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha Case
On 12 August 2025, Pakistan’s cybercrime authorities filed a case against lawyers and activists Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha over posts shared on X seen to be “offensive tweets” against state institutions. Chattha was charged for retweeting posts made by Mazari.
The case was filed by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). Authorities alleged the tweets targeted state institutions and registered charges under PECA Sections 9 (glorification of an offence), 10 (cyber terrorism) and 26-A (false information).
The usage of PECA raised concerns about how the law was being used to suppress freedom of speech. Mazari and Chattha are human rights activists who spoke up against enforced disappearances, which meant speaking up against the system. Their conviction under PECA was seen as a violation of basic international human rights according to UN experts.
Islamabad Sessions Court then issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Mazari and Chattha’s alleged failure to appear before the court. Following this, in December 2025, the Supreme Court of Pakistan stayed the trial proceedings while the Islamabad High Court reviewed petitions challenging aspects of the case.
Alongside the tweets case, additional cases were filed against the couple in the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC). These cases were related to various protests and demonstrations. One case pertained to a scuffle outside the High Court, while the other to a protest outside the Press Club.
The timeline of the case underwent significant changes, as the trial continued, but on 15 January 2026 the judge revoked their bail, leading to an arrest being ordered on 16 January 2026 for the couple.
On 20 January, the couple approached the IHC on this arrest order, where the High Court declared the warrant null and void. The trial court was given four days until 24 January 2026 to cross-examine prosecution witnesses per this directive and issued conditions such as: if “they failed to appear before the trial court, the protection granted under the order would stand automatically terminated.”
However, on 24 January 2026, Islamabad Sessions Court convicted the couple and sentenced them to 17 years in prison each under PECA provisions related to the tweets cited in the case.
Currently, their legal team is still appealing and challenging the sentences in Islamabad High Court. However, these cases were resolved in February 2026, and Judge Abul Hasnat Muhammad Zulqarnain approved the bail against surety bonds of Rs5,000 each, and granted bail by ATC in the police scuffle case in the surety bond of Rs 10,000 each. But the couple cannot be released, as their 17-year sentence still stands.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reached out to Zainab Janjua, who is a senior member of Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha’s defense team.
Janjua is currently a High Court advocate, a Barrister-at-Law from Lincoln’s Inn, and was called to the Bar in England and Wales in 2015. She graduated with a LL.M in International Business Law and a LL.B. (Hons) from University of London, International Programmes.
She became part of Imaan’s defence counsel, as she has represented Imaan in a 2022 defamation case in the past, involving the former army chief and subsequent sedition charges in 2023.
Soch Fact Check reached out to Janjua, and she provided us with an official statement on this matter:
“This news is completely false. IHC has not ordered their release or granted any bail. Bails were granted by ATC in a few old FIRs. They are currently incarcerated in Adiala Jail (sic) as a result of conviction in PECA Case. Imaan and Hadi’s appeal is currently pending in IHC against this conviction and no release order has been issued by IHC.”
Janjua provided Soch Fact Check with official documents submitted on 27 February 2026: an order sheet related to an appeal that was made by the couple’s defence team to the Islamabad High Court. The application by the appellate team called for an early hearing date and a suspension of the 17-year sentence the couple was given. It mentions 19 February 2026 as the last date the case was heard, and since then there has been no progress.
It is important to note that this order was issued on the same date as the social media post claiming that the couple’s release had been ordered, but there is no mention of this detail.
Below is a copy of the appeal submitted by Imaan Mazari’s defence team to the court:
Zainab Janjua provided this order sheet, submitted to the Court
In the same manner, Hadi Ali Chattha submitted the same appeal to the courts for the case to be heard urgently as there was no hearing after 19 February 2026, making it clear that he was not released as per the claim. A copy of Chattha’s appeal is also reproduced below:
Point 4 in this appeal mentions the “case file before the Hon’be Chief Justice for the appropriate order in this regard.” The next step taken in this case, by Justice Muhammad Asif three days later, was to put the file before Chief Justice Dogar and to dissolve the bench. Legally, there will be new judges hearing the case, causing further delays which means a release order could not have been issued.
Given their lawyer’s official statement and the appeal documents, it is clear that the claim is false and that the Islamabad High Court has not ordered Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha’s release.
Virality
The viral claim was shared here on X.
On Facebook, it was shared here, here.
On Instagram, it was shared here, here, here and here.
Conclusion: Based on official statements from the defence counsel of Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha, and appeals filed by their lawyers, we can ascertain that any claims about orders of their release are false.