ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has sentenced three high-ranking officers to jail for their involvement in a case of contempt of court. Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon, Superintendent of Police Operations Jameel Zafar, and Station House Officer Naseer Manzoor were found guilty of unlawfully detaining two leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Shehryar Afridi, and Shandana Gulzar, local media reported.
The court’s decision comes after these officials had issued orders to detain the PTI leaders under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) ordinance. The Deputy Commissioner has been given a six-month jail term, the Superintendent of Police four months, and the Station House Officer of Kohsar Police Station two months. Additionally, each officer has been fined Rs100,000.
However, the IHC has suspended the jail sentences for one month, allowing the Deputy Commissioner time to appeal the judgment.
This sentence follows a series of events which started on February 20th when the IHC issued an arrest warrant for the Deputy Commissioner over the prolonged detention of the PTI leaders. Authorities across all four provinces and Islamabad had been instructed to arrest and present the Deputy Commissioner before the court in relation to this case.
About six months prior to the sentencing, the same officers were indicted for contempt of court. They had offered unconditional apologies, but Justice Babar Sattar rejected these and proceeded with the contempt charges.
The backdrop of these legal proceedings is the detentions of Afridi and Gulzar, which took place amid disturbances on May 9th, following the arrest of PTI Chairman Imran Khan on corruption charges. Afridi had been in police custody since May 16th, facing multiple arrests despite court orders for his release. Shandana Gulzar’s detention on August 9th prompted her mother to appeal to the IHC.
During a hearing on August 16th, Justice Sattar expressed dissatisfaction with the officials’ actions, calling them an abuse of authority, and nullified the detention orders, setting the stage for the contempt proceedings that have now resulted in these sentences.
