A PAKISTANI court jailed two rights lawyers to 17 years each on Saturday over social media posts the authorities said were hostile to the state and its security institutions.

Judge Afzal Majoka announced the verdict a day after Zainab Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha were arrested in Islamabad, according to court documents.

The couple appeared briefly via video link but boycotted the hearing, prompting the court to conclude the trial and deliver the verdict.

The couple denied all the charges.

The court verdict said Ms Mazari had posted multiple tweets in recent years that “portrayed the agenda” of the outlawed Baloch separatist group and Pakistani Taliban.

The case stems from a complaint filed in August 2025 with the country’s national cyber-crime investigation agency alleging the couple used social media to “malign the state” and its security institutions.

In his verdict, the judge referred to the complaint, which alleged that Ms Mazari “consistently disseminated highly offensive, misleading and anti-state contents on social media,” with the “active connivance” of her husband.

It said Ms Mazari’s “tweets are replete with false and misleading narratives against state institutions, constituting offences under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act,”  which was passed by parliament last year to stop the spread of disinformation and hate speech.

The prosecution also accused Ms Mazari of propagating a “narrative that aligned with hostile terrorist groups and proscribed organisations and individuals.”

“The accused have undermined the dignity of the court, wilfully obstructed due process and systematically sabotaged the administration of justice,” the judge said in the verdict.

Last Friday Amnesty International said the couple’s detention marked “the latest escalation in a sustained campaign of judicial harassment and intimidation by the Pakistani authorities.”

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar praised the verdict against the pair. “As you sow, so shall you reap!” he wrote on social media.