Family, legal team of Imaan and Hadi voice concerns over medical facilities at Adiala jail

ISLAMABAD: Families and lawyers of imprisoned human rights activist and lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chatta have expressed their concern regarding the availability of medical facilities at Adiala jail.

On January 24, human rights lawyers Imaan and Hadi were awarded a combined 17-year imprisonment by an Islamabad sessions court for offenses related to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca).

In view of their conviction which received condemnation from lawyers and experts at United Nations (UN), the couple petitioned the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against their conviction on February 7.

As stated in a statement released on Monday, the family and legal representatives said that they were happy with the weekly meetings with the couple in jail, but they said that Imaan had experienced health issues in the last three weeks which is a matter of concern for them due to the medical facilities at the jail.

"Initially, Imaan had been complaining of heavy bleeding from her gums, but there was no dentist available to check her in the jail. We arranged for medicines to be provided to her after consultation with our dentist, but all of them were not provided to her," the statement alleged.

Moreover, she had also experienced health problems in the following week, the statement added.

"Worse, a medicine called Zedron, which is used mainly for cancer patients and is specified not to give to women of child-bearing age, was given to her to prevent her from nausea and vomiting," the statement further alleged.

Since the past week, the family and legal team said that Imaan had been experiencing severe chest infection.

"They have conducted her blood test and found high white blood cells in her, which shows the infection. She needs to have a chest x-ray done, but till now the jail authorities have not arranged it to find the cause of infection and rule out any serious diseases like tuberculosis," they added.

Their concern has increased more due to the alarming fact that women prisoners at Adiala jail, who are suffering from infectious diseases, are not kept in isolation but are housed with other prisoners as well as children.

“The women’s medical facilities and the availability of doctors leave a lot to be desired,” they stated.

“This is a health crisis in the jail, and the well-being of prisoners is the responsibility of the state, which must not take it lightly,” the statement said.

They reiterated that all these health issues could be avoided if their applications for suspension of sentence were heard in a timely manner.

They urged the jail authorities and the government to arrange Imaan’s chest X-ray as soon as possible and provide adequate medical facilities, including dental care, to all women prisoners.

They emphasised that detainees with infectious diseases should be isolated or quarantined with dignity to protect other detainees; that specialist doctors and access to relevant medication should be provided to all detainees; and that the government should not oppose the applications for suspension of sentence filed by Imaan and Hadi, which are scheduled to be heard by the IHC on Sept 8, 2026.