The families and legal team of incarcerated lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chatta have raised concerns over the medical facilities available at Adiala Jail, stressing Imaan has not been provided adequate care.
On Jan. 24, an Islamabad session court sentenced Imaan and Hadi to 17 years’ imprisonment on charges under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA). Challenges to their convictions are pending before the Islamabad High Court.
In a statement, the couple’s family and legal team said they were satisfied with the weekly meetings with them at the jail. However, they said Imaan had suffered several health issues that required adequate care.
“Imaan had initially complained of heavy bleeding from her gums, but there was no dentist available to examine her at the jail. We arranged for medicine to be sent to her after consulting our dentist, but not all of it reached her,” read the statement. It said Imaan had complained of stomach problems the following week and had not received proper care.
“Worse, a medicine, Zedron, meant primarily for cancer patients and which specifically states that it should not be given to women of childbearing age, was administered to her to stop her nausea and vomiting,” it claimed.
Additionally, the statement alleged Imaan is suffering from a serious chest infection. “They conducted a blood test which showed a high white blood cell count, indicating an infection. She needs to undergo a chest X-ray, but the jail authorities have still not arranged one to determine the cause of the infection and rule out serious diseases such as tuberculosis,” they said.
They emphasized their concern was compounded by the alarming fact that inmates in the women’s section of Adiala Jail who had been diagnosed with infectious diseases were not isolated but housed alongside other inmates, as well as children. “The women’s medical facilities and the availability of doctors leave a lot to be desired,” they said, describing it as a health crisis.
Stressing that the well-being of prisoners is the responsibility of the state, they asserted that Imaan’s health issues could be avoided if petitions for suspension of sentence were heard in a timely manner.
They urged 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 also called for detainees with infectious diseases to be humanely isolated or quarantined to protect other detainees and for the government to not oppose the applications for suspension of sentence filed by Imaan and Hadi.