Imaan Mazari Tweets Case: Court Orders Removal of Paragraphs on Iran and Other Countries

Islamabad: The court under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) has ordered the deletion of paragraphs referring to Iran and other countries from the verdict in the controversial tweets case involving prominent lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chatha.

Judge Afzal Majoka of the PECA court issued the order upon a request from the prosecution, stating that certain errors in paragraph 36 of the original 22-page verdict needed correction. Four countries had been mistakenly mentioned in the decision, and the court stenographer confirmed that the sentence had been inadvertently included again during the final printing of the judgment. The stenographer’s mistake was found to be unintentional and without malice.

The court noted that the sentence in question had no legal significance or bearing on the rights of the parties involved. Invoking Section 561A, the court exercised its powers to correct the clear error in the record. The order directs that the sentence be removed and the request be attached to the main case record.

Earlier, Additional Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka had sentenced Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chatha under various sections of the PECA Act. They were given:

Section 9: 5 years imprisonment and Rs 5 million fine

Section 10: 10 years imprisonment and Rs 30 million fine

Section 26A: 2 years imprisonment and Rs 1 million fine

In total, both were sentenced to 17 years imprisonment each and fined Rs 36 million, while they were acquitted under Section 11 of the PECA Act.