ISLAMABAD: Pakistani police arrested a prominent rights activist and her husband on Friday (Jan 23) as they were heading to a court hearing in Islamabad on "cyberterrorism" charges, her family and a lawyers' association said.
Imaan Mazari, a 32-year-old lawyer and vocal critic of Pakistan's military, faces a dozen charges but it was not immediately clear if Friday's detention was related to any of them.
Mazari and her husband, fellow lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha, were granted bail in a cybercrime case on Tuesday and the couple sought blanket bail to prevent arrest in any other cases so they could appear in subsequent proceedings.
Syed Wajid Ali Shah Gillani, president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, alleged in a video statement that police manhandled the couple before arresting them.
Mazari's mother Shireen Mazari, a former minister of human rights, also said in a post on X that her daughter was arrested, alleging police used violence as she was detained.
Islamabad's police force has not replied to an AFP request for comment.
Imaan Mazari told AFP on Tuesday that she and her husband feared arrest over undisclosed police cases, a move she said would be a "grave injustice".
The couple had been confined to the Islamabad High Court's premises since Tuesday, spending nights at a lawyers' association building.
Videos circulating on social media showed police vans escorting a bar association vehicle carrying Mazari to court before it was stopped at an underpass, where masked security officials prevented journalists from filming the arrest.
The independent human rights commission of Pakistan denounced the "grave abuse of authority and contempt for due process", calling in a statement for the immediate disclosure of the couple's whereabouts.
Changes to the constitution and hasty legislation passed by parliament have pushed Pakistan towards tighter state control, with diminishing political and civil rights.
"I expect grave injustice, as has been done with all other persons before us as well," Mazari told AFP on Tuesday.
"This is nothing new. We're not the first people who will be unlawfully incarcerated in this country," she said. - AFP
