OMM Newsroom
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, to 10 years in prison over an alleged security breach during a cricket tour in 2024, according to the BBC.
The couple were accused of removing road barriers and obstructing police officers in Islamabad. Both have denied the charges.
The case relates to an incident on 25 October 2024, when England’s cricket team was touring Pakistan. Prosecutors said Mazari and Chattha removed barriers from a road designated for the team’s security convoy and obstructed police officers at Zero Point, a major cloverleaf junction in Islamabad.
Each was sentenced to 10 years under the Anti-Terrorism Act, as well as additional terms of one year and two years for obstructing and using force against public servants. All sentences will run concurrently. The court also fined each of them 200,000 Pakistani rupees (£541; $723).
In statements recorded during the trial, the couple described themselves as “prisoners of conscience” who had faced state persecution. Chattha said he was being punished for supporting his wife’s work and activism and for choosing to resist injustice alongside her, according to a statement he gave to Dawn News.
The couple 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”.
Amnesty International criticised the proceedings, saying the couple had been denied an open and fair trial. Yasmine Ahmed, the organisation’s senior director for regional human rights impact, said: “These convictions are an indictment of Pakistan’s justice system.”
Ahmed said Mazari and Chattha were being targeted because they had continued their human rights work and exercised their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
Amnesty International also raised concerns that the trial had been moved inside the prison, where the couple were kept behind a cage-like structure during hearings.
Mazari and Chattha have faced several criminal cases in recent months. They have been in custody since 23 January, when they were arrested in a separate case involving an alleged altercation outside the Islamabad High Court.
A day later, they were sentenced to up to 17 years in prison under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act over social media posts criticising the military. The Supreme Court suspended those sentences and granted them bail on 17 September, but they were arrested again the same day in connection with a separate case over a protest in March 2025.
In that case, they were accused of chanting “anti-government slogans” and “blocking roads”.
Mazari and Chattha are prominent human rights lawyers who have represented activists, journalists and marginalised communities subjected to enforced disappearances. Mazari’s mother, Shireen Mazari, is a former human rights minister who served in the government of former prime minister Imran Khan.
The couple’s convictions have drawn criticism from international human rights organisations, which have raised concerns about the treatment of lawyers and activists in Pakistan.
