Pakistan Court’s 10-Year Sentence For Imaan Mazari, Husband Sparks Rights Concerns

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced prominent human rights lawyers 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 after the couple’s trial inside Adiala prison in Rawalpindi. The court found them guilty of endangering the security of the England cricket team during its tour of Pakistan.

The judgement stated that their actions showed an intention to create terror. However, it also acknowledged that the incident involved the removal of a road barrier, describing it as an ordinary occurrence.

The case relates to an October 2024 incident in which Mazari and Chattha allegedly removed road barriers along a route designated for the England cricket team in Islamabad. Authorities accused them of obstructing police and inciting public unrest. The couple denied the charges.

They described themselves as ‘prisoners of conscience’ and alleged that authorities were targeting them for their human rights work. They also claimed the proceedings aimed to intimidate those opposing oppression and injustice.

Mazari’s mother, Shireen Mazari, a former human rights minister under jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, criticised the proceedings as a sham trial. She alleged that the couple could not defend themselves through their chosen lawyer and did not receive key legal documents. She said the defence would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.

Amnesty International condemned the convictions, with its representative Yasmine Ahmed accusing authorities of using anti-terrorism laws to punish the couple for their human rights advocacy.

Mazari and Chattha have been in custody since January 23 in a separate case over their social media posts. A lower court sentenced them to 17 years each under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. The Supreme Court later suspended those sentences, but police re-arrested them in the road barrier case.

Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for South Asia, Babu Ram Pant, described the re-arrest as a politically motivated attempt to silence critical voices.

Pakistan Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has repeatedly maintained that the country’s judiciary is independent.

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