Pakistan court jails human rights lawyers for 10 years

Pakistan has a deep history of using legal statutes to manage public dissent, a trend that resurfaced in the garrison city of Rawalpindi this week.

An antiterrorism court sentenced human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, to 10 years in prison on Thursday. Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra delivered the verdict inside Adiala prison, where the couple has been held since January 23.

The conviction stems from an incident in October 2024 in Islamabad. The couple removed road barriers along a route reserved for the England and Wales Cricket team. The judge found them guilty of putting the team’s security at risk. The ruling stated that this action showed the accused intended to create a sense of terror.

The court acknowledged in the written judgment that the breach was a common occurrence involving the removal of a barrier. Despite this, the judges upheld the terrorism-related charges. The couple pleaded not guilty and argued they were being targeted for their advocacy work.

Shireen Mazari, the couple’s mother and former human rights minister, criticized the proceedings. She told Reuters that the trial lacked due process and that the defendants were not allowed to use their own lawyer. Her legal team plans to file a petition with the Supreme Court against the verdict.

Amnesty International described the outcome as a failure of the justice system. Yasmine Ahmend of the group said the charges were used to punish the lawyers for their human rights advocacy. Babu Ram Pant, the organization’s deputy regional director for South Asia, called the re-arrest a politically motivated move.

The couple also faces a separate 17-year sentence under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act for social media posts. A lower court handed down that sentence in January, but the Supreme Court later suspended it. Police re-arrested the pair the same day for the current security breach case.

Law minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has maintained that the country’s judiciary operates independently. The Mazari and Chattha family and their supporters plan to continue challenging the legal status of the convictions in higher courts.