Court Reporter, Daily Dawn, Dawn TV Report
Islamabad: The Anti-Electronic Crime Act court has ordered the deletion of the paragraph related to Iran and other countries in the controversial tweets case against renowned lawyer Iman Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chatta on the request of the prosecution.
Judge Afzal Majuka of the Anti-Electronic Crime Act court has issued an order to delete the paragraph related to Iran and other countries in the decision of Iman Mazari and Hadi Ali Chatta on the request of the prosecution.
The order said that the prosecution filed an application to correct the error in paragraph number 36 of the decision, the names of four countries were mistakenly written in the decision and the stenographer stated in his written response that this sentence along with a few other sentences, were deleted during the correction of the decision.
The judgment stated that, according to the stenographer, the sentence was mistakenly re-inserted into the judgment at the time of final printing, but the stenographer’s mistake did not involve malice.
Judge Afzal Majuka said in the judgment that the said sentence has no legal status in the present case or any connection with the determination of the rights of the parties; therefore, the court can exercise its powers under 561A to correct the obvious mistake on the record.
The court ordered the deletion of the sentence in the written judgment and directed that the application be attached to the main case.
It should be noted that Additional District and Sessions Judge Afzal Majuka had written in his judgment on January 24 that currently four countries in the world have been declared terrorist states, which are Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Korea, Iran and Syria.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson, in his weekly press briefing, in response to a question about the decision to declare four countries as terrorist states, said, “Pakistan does not support any such statement or classification because there is no official list of terrorist states under the United Nations or international law.”
Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi had said, “This decision is the opinion of the honorable judge. Pakistan certainly does not support this opinion.”
It may be recalled that Additional Sessions Judge Afzal Majuka, in a 22-page written order, had sentenced both of them to 5 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5 million under Section 9 of the PECA Act, 10 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 30 million under Section 10, and 2 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 million under Section 26A.
The court sentenced both to a total of 17 years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 36 million, while acquitting both accused under Section 11 of the Penal Code.
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