A Pakistani court has sentenced Balochi human rights activist Imaan Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha to 10 years’ imprisonment for protesting during England’s cricket tour to Pakistan in 2024.
According to reports, the lawyer couple was accused of obstructing police officers, removing road barriers, and causing a ‘security breach’ in Islamabad. The duo had been in prison for the past several months.
Imaan Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha were earlier sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment for criticising the military establishment on social media. However, the Pakistani Supreme Court had suspended that sentence in August this year.
The duo has now been sentenced under the draconian Anti-Terrorism Act to 10 years in prison. They were also fined PKR 2 lakhs each.
Imaan Mazari, daughter of former Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, has been a prominent voice campaigning for justice for Baloch activists and victims of enforced disappearances. The couple were previously sentenced to prison terms of up to 17 years over social media posts critical of Pakistan’s military. Although the Supreme Court suspended those sentences in August, police re-arrested them before their release. They have remained imprisoned at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi.
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In a statement, Hadi Ali Chattha told Dawn News that he and his wife were being persecuted by the Pakistani State for their human rights activism and standing up against injustice, oppression and tyranny.
“I am being punished not only for supporting my wife’s work and activism, but for choosing this path of resisting injustice as our life journey together,” he stated.
According to several human rights watchdogs, the couple were denied a free and fair trial. Hearings were conducted inside the prison, and the victims were kept behind cage-like structures.
It must be mentioned that Imaan Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha had represented Balochi activists, journalists and individuals who were forcibly disappeared by the Pakistani military.
