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Lawyers of Imaan, Hadi boycott ATC proceedings

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Cite

Asad, M. (2026, October 15). Lawyers of Imaan, Hadi boycott ATC proceedings. Dawn. https://www.dawn.com/news/2037233/lawyers-of-imaan-hadi-boycott-atc-proceedings

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Dawn · collected 2026-10-15 · by Malik Asad

Quick Summary

Lawyers representing human rights activists Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha, along with Shireen Mazari, boycotted an anti-terrorism court (ATC) hearing on Wednesday after the judge decided to record prosecution witnesses’ statements without consulting the defense. The total number of recorded witness statements in the case now stands at six following the recording of three additional testimonies while the accused and their counsel were absent. Aimal Khan Mandokhail, the lawyer for Imaan and Hadi, protested that he had been unable to meet his clients due to roadblocks around Adiala jail, preventing a proper defense strategy from being formulated.
Written by AI on 2026-10-15, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Lawyers representing human rights activists Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha, along with former minister Shireen Mazari (Imaan’s mother), boycotted proceedings of an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad on Wednesday. The boycott occurred after ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra decided to record prosecution witnesses’ statements despite the defense's request for a delay until they could meet their clients. The judge proceeded with recording three more witness statements, bringing the total number of examined witnesses to six.

During the hearing, Aimal Khan Mandokhail, counsel for Imaan and Hadi, informed the court that he had visited Adiala jail but was unable to meet his clients due to blocked roads around one-and-a-half kilometers from the facility.

Written for “Imaan Hadi ATC Boycott” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Imaan Hadi ATC Boycott
Crime & Law · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 18% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Dawn
Hedges 2 of 28 claims Outlet record 72/100
“The articles describe different stages of a legal proceeding, with Article A referring to an ATC directive on October 12th and Article B describing a boycott of proceedings by the lawyers on October 15th.”
Dawn
Hedges 5 of 44 claims Outlet record 72/100
“The articles describe different stages of the legal proceedings: Article A is about seeking an explanation for failing to produce Imaan and Hadi, while Article B reports on lawyers boycotting a later proceeding where statements were recorded in their absence.”
Dawn
Hedges 7 of 38 claims Outlet record 72/100
“The articles describe different hearings and proceedings related to the same case but are not reporting on the exact same incident.”
Dawn
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 30 claims Outlet record 72/100
“The articles describe different actions taken by lawyers and defendants in separate court proceedings on different days, not the exact same incident.”
Dawn
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 30 claims Outlet record 72/100
“The articles describe related events but likely different hearings on separate days.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
17
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
18%
3 of 17 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
72/100
Dawn's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Dawn · 2706 article(s) · 3 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 3 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Malik Asad
47 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Jatt had filed a petition, seeking the court’s intervention to prevent his arrest before he could reach the court of competent jurisdiction.
🔮 “I will call for all reports and summon all evidence,” Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro observed while hearing a petition filed by lawyer Riaz Hanif Rahi on behalf of The Jurists Foundation of Pakistan.
🔮 When defence counsel Riasat Ali Azad informed the court that the record had been received that day, the judge remarked that he would have shown the police the consequences of failing to produce it on Tuesday.
🔮 The judgement clarified that although police could maintain internal records of criminal cases for official purposes, such information could not be disclosed in character certificates issued to citizens, particularly when these were required for travelling abroad.
🔮 Following the completion of the trial and final arguments, the court reserved its verdict and said that it would be pronounced on Oct 29.
🔮 “But we surrender ourselves before the ultimate court where we all must return one day, where all will be held accountable for what they have done.”
🔮 He will preside over a single bench at the Rawalpindi registry.
🔮 While offering yet another opportunity to human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Hazir-Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha to record their statements in a security breach case, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Saturday warned them that a verdict could come even without their testimony if they refused.
2026-10-25 · assertive framing · ATC warns Imaan, husband of verdict sans testimony
🔮 Meanwhile, no prosecution witness could be cross-examined during Thursday’s hearing amid the dispute over the state counsel’s appointment.
🔮 Justice Malik remarked with a smile, “In that case, you might as well remove our badges too, as we are also currently serving as additional judges.”
Also by Malik Asad
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 47 articles by Malik Asad →

Topics

ATC Adiala Dawn ISLAMABAD

Subjects

Imaan Mazari PERSON · 3× Shireen Mazari PERSON · 3× Hadi Ali Chattha PERSON · 2× Imaan PERSON · 2× Mandokhail PERSON · 2× ATC ORG · 1× Aimal Khan Mandokhail PERSON · 1× Hadi PERSON · 1× ISLAMABAD GPE · 1× Tahir Abbas Sipra PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The court subsequently recorded statements of three witnesses in the absence of the accused and their counsel, taking the total number of witnesses examined so far in the case to six. ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra recorded the statements after the accused, their counsel and Shireen Mazari, a former minister and Ms Imaan’s mother, boycotted the proceedings and walked out of the courtroom over the court’s decision to proceed with the recording of testimony.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-15
🔮 Lawyers representing human rights activists and lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha, along with Shireen Mazari, boycotted proceedings of an anti-terrorism court on Wednesday after the judge decided to record prosecution witnesses’ statements despite the defence’s request to defer the exercise until they could meet the accused.
2026-10-15 · Dawn
Lawyers of Imaan, Hadi boycott ATC proceedings · assertive framing

Claims (17 extracted, 3 hedged)

Lawyers representing human rights activists and lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha, along with Shireen Mazari, boycotted proceedings of an anti-terrorism court on Wednesday after the judge decided to record prosecution witnesses’ statements despite the defence’s request to defer the exercise until they could meet the accused. uncertain
they → represent → accused
The court subsequently recorded statements of three witnesses in the absence of the accused and their counsel, taking the total number of witnesses examined so far in the case to six. ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra recorded the statements after the accused, their counsel and Shireen Mazari, a former minister and Ms Imaan’s mother, boycotted the proceedings and walked out of the courtroom over the court’s decision to proceed with the recording of testimony. asserted
accused → record → testimony
During the hearing, Aimal Khan Mandokhail, counsel for Imaan and Hadi, informed the court that he had visited Adiala jail but could not meet his clients despite having a court order permitting the meeting. uncertain
he → inform → meeting
He said it was a designated meeting day for lawyers, but roads had been blocked around one-and-a-half kilometres away from the jail. asserted
roads → say → jail
A court official informed the judge that the jail authorities had conveyed that the accused would be produced through a video link. asserted
accused → inform → link
Mr Mandokhail requested the court to ensure physical appearance of the accused. asserted
Mandokhail → request → accused
The judge observed that reports had been received from the police and jail authorities indicating that a special vehicle was not available for their transportation. asserted
vehicle → observe → transportation
Prosecutor Raja Naveed Hussain Kiyani requested the court to record the witnesses’ statements on the day. asserted
Kiyani → request → day
The judge agreed, saying the matter of cross-examination could be taken up later. uncertain
matter → agree → examination
Mr Mandokhail clarified that his instructions concerned cross-examination and said there were no specific directions from the lead counsel regarding the recording of the witnesses’ statements. asserted
instructions → clarify → statements
He said that they should meet the accused before the proceedings continued. asserted
proceedings → say → accused
Hadi Ali Chattha also requested the court to summon the accused to the courtroom, while Imaan Mazari urged that their privacy be respected, observing that conversations in the meeting area were recorded. asserted
conversations → request → area
He maintained that the accused were the primary stakeholders in the proceedings and had a legal right to be heard. asserted
accused → maintain → right
He said the court had stressed the need to satisfy all stakeholders. asserted
court → say → stakeholders
When the recording of the witnesses’ statements began, the defence lawyers and Shireen Mazari walked out in protest. asserted
lawyers → begin → protest
Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha’s counsel also left the courtroom. asserted
Mazari → leave → courtroom
The court subsequently recorded the witnesses’ statements in the absence of the accused and their lawyers. asserted
court → record → accused
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