• Three-member bench headed by Justice Waheed.
• Lawyers complain of delayed appeal hearings.
• SC discusses parameters for sentence suspension.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to decide the sentence suspension pleas filed by lawyer and rights activist Iman Mazari and her husband and activist, Hadi Ali Chattha.

A three-member bench — headed by Justice Shahid Waheed and comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Shafi Siddiqui — heard the case related to the suspension of their sentences and ruled that the matter would remain pending before the apex court until the high court’s ruling

In January, a district and sessions court in the federal capital sentenced the couple to a total of 17 years in prison each under different sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) — just a day after their arrest in another case. The couple then moved the IHC against their sentence in early February.

During the hearing today, the counsel for Mazari, Faisal Siddiqi, informed the court that the high court had only issued notices on the appeals against conviction and had not resumed hearings for more than two months.

“Our clients have received no relief from the Islamabad High Court,” Siddiqi argued, adding that the court should order a decision on the sentence suspension pleas.

Justice Afghan observed that the high court had neither passed any adverse order against the petitioners nor rejected their applications for suspension of sentence.

“If the high court had dismissed the suspension pleas, then we could have examined the matter on merits,” Justice Afghan remarked, while questioning under what parameters a sentence could be suspended after the lawyer asked on whose door his client would knock if the IHC does not provide relief.

Justice Shahid Waheed observed that the court could direct the high court to decide the appeals within two weeks, while counsel insisted that the IHC should specifically be ordered to decide the suspension applications.