Brussels, Sep 26 (IANS) The recent re-arrest of Pakistani human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha hours after the country’s Supreme Court granted them bail reflects more than an individual injustice.
The case exposes Pakistan’s accelerating descent into institutional lawlessness, where freedoms secured through the courts can be swept aside by the coercive machinery of the state, reports highlighted.
“Within moments of securing their freedom, Pakistani human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha found themselves back in state custody. On September 17, just hours after the Supreme Court suspended their controversial convictions in the social media posts case and ordered their release from Adiala Jail, the couple was re-arrested before they could walk free,” a report in the ‘European Times’ highlighted.
“What should have marked the end of nearly eight months of incarceration instead became a chilling spectacle of executive overreach, raising profound questions about the sanctity of judicial authority and the rule of law in Pakistan. Their immediate re-arrest, despite a clear order from the country’s highest court, is being widely viewed as evidence of a state increasingly willing to circumvent legal safeguards in pursuit of political ends,” it added.
The developments shocked legal observers, who immediately accused the Pakistan authorities of deliberately circumventing the Supreme Court’s order. What followed appeared to expose a system in which judicial orders could secure legal relief without necessarily delivering freedom in reality, the report mentioned.
It noted that continued detention of Imaan and Hadi raises concerns over the balance of power between the judiciary and the executive.
“A tyrannical state relishing its cruelty — Imaan and Hadi’s continued incarceration sends a broader, disgraceful message. No court order makes a difference if the state wants you in jail. This should be frightening for any person that believes in the rule of law,” European Times quoted one of the commentators as saying.
Citing another observation that highlighted the perceived political nature of the prosecutions, the report said: “Imaan and Hadi are standing by their principles. They can get out of jail any day. They just have to promise they won’t take up Baloch missing persons and other human rights cases!”
Raising concern over the implications of the re-arrest, prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir was quoted as saying by European Times: “This should have been a moment of relief, but the reported re-arrest of Imaan and Hadi raises fresh concerns. Bail should mean meaningful legal protection—not another immediate loss of freedom.”
According to the report, the re-arrest of Imaan and Hadi turned what should have been a judicial remedy into a stark indictment of Pakistan’s deepening governance crisis.
It noted that the case raises a fundamental question about the country’s future: whether the rule of law can retain any meaning where even a Supreme Court order cannot guarantee a citizen’s freedom.
–IANS
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