Pakistan Rights Lawyer Imaan Mazari and Husband Jailed for 10 Years

An antiterrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced prominent human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, to 10 years in prison on terrorism-related charges.

Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra announced the verdict on Thursday following their trial inside Adiala prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. According to a copy of the judgement obtained by the AFP news agency, the judge wrote that the couple had put the security of the England and Wales cricket team at risk, showing an intention and objective to create a sense of terror.

At the same time, the ruling conceded that the security breach was of a very common, ordinary nature, apparently involving the removal of a barrier. The case relates to an October 2024 incident in which the couple removed road barriers in the capital, Islamabad, along a route designated for the touring England cricket team.

The couple were indicted on 7 October, accused of obstructing police and inciting public interest, and pleaded not guilty.

In statements seen by the Reuters news agency, the couple denied the charges, calling themselves prisoners of conscience and saying they were being targeted for their human rights work. In their defence document, they had earlier said they were being made an example to further cement the chilling effect against those who stand, or want to stand, against tyranny, oppression and injustice.

Shireen Mazari, Imaan Mazari's mother and Pakistan's human rights minister under incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan, said it was a sham trial without any due process. She told Reuters the couple were not permitted to defend themselves through their own lawyer and were not provided with key legal documents, adding that the defence would file a petition against the verdict in the Supreme Court.

Amnesty International called the convictions an indictment of Pakistan's justice system. Amnesty's Yasmine Ahmed said it was a test of the judiciary's ability to uphold the principles of justice and the right to a fair trial, and that it had failed that test miserably. She added that the anti-terrorism charges were being used to punish Imaan and Hadi for their human rights advocacy.

Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty International's deputy regional director for South Asia, said Imaan and Hadi's re-arrest dispelled any pretence that the charges against them were anything other than a politically motivated attempt to punish them for their human rights work. He said the case demonstrated once again the authorities' willingness to weaponise the legal system against critical voices.

Mazari and Chattha have been in custody since 23 January in a separate case over their social media posts. A lower court sentenced them each to 17 years the next day under Pakistan's Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, which critics have said is designed to quash antigovernment dissent online. Although the Supreme Court later suspended those sentences, police re-arrested the couple the same day in the security breach case.

Pakistan's law minister, Azam Nazeer Tarar, has repeatedly said the country's judiciary is independent.