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Islamabad Court Removes “Terrorist States” Remark from Imaan Mazari Verdict
An Islamabad court has expunged a controversial “terrorist states” observation from the verdict against lawyer Imaan Mazari and her spouse, calling it unrelated to the case. The amended judgment has been sent to the IHC.
ND
by News Desk
2026-01-30
Islamabad Court Removes “Terrorist States” Remark from Imaan Mazari Verdict

A local court in Islamabad has removed a controversial observation referring to “terrorist states” from the judgment that convicted lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her spouse, Hadi Ali Chattha, in a case related to social media posts, official sources confirmed.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka expunged the observation earlier this week and forwarded an amended version of the judgment to the registrar of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in a sealed envelope, according to a senior court official.

Sources familiar with the matter said the issue arose due to a clerical error during the preparation of the verdict. The judge had dictated the judgment to his stenographer and explicitly instructed that a particular paragraph containing the controversial observation be deleted. However, the paragraph was inadvertently retained and included in the final version, which was later signed by the judge.

The matter came to light after the prosecution highlighted the paragraph and filed an application seeking its removal. Acting on the request, the judge formally expunged the observation, placed a corrected copy on the judicial record, and dispatched another sealed amended version to the IHC registrar.

Disciplinary proceedings have also been initiated against the stenographer involved. Sources confirmed that a show-cause notice has been issued to determine responsibility for the oversight.

The deleted remarks appeared in paragraph 36 on page 18 of the verdict, where the court made comments about the classification of certain countries as “terrorist states” while discussing international conduct and security narratives. Legal sources noted that the paragraph had no direct relevance to the charges under trial, which pertained to alleged violations of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

The controversy surrounding the observation prompted a response from the Foreign Office a day earlier. During a weekly media briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi distanced the government from the remarks, stating that they did not reflect Pakistan’s official policy or international legal norms.

“These are views of the learned judge,” Andrabi said when asked about the case. “Pakistan does not subscribe to this opinion. Such a designation of ‘terrorist states’ does not exist in UN parlance or under international law.”

On January 24, Judge Majoka convicted Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha under Peca for social media posts critical of state institutions. Both were sentenced to 17 years of rigorous imprisonment each and fined heavily over posts made between 2021 and 2025, which the court deemed anti-state.
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