Pakistan anti-terrorism court jails human rights lawyer couple for 10 years

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced prominent human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha to 10 years in prison over an alleged security breach during England's cricket tour of Pakistan in 2024. Both deny the charges against them. Prosecutors accused the couple of removing barriers from a road designated for the team's security convoy and obstructing police officers at Zero Point, a major cloverleaf junction in Islamabad, on 25 October 2024. Each was sentenced to 10 years under the Anti-Terrorism Act, along with additional one-year and two-year terms for obstructing and using force against public servants. All sentences will run concurrently. The court also fined each of them 200,000 Pakistani rupees, equivalent to about £541 or $723. The conviction is the latest in a series of criminal cases against the couple. They were arrested on 23 January in a separate case involving an alleged altercation outside the Islamabad High Court, and a day later were sentenced to up to 17 years in prison under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act over social media posts critical of the military. Pakistan's Supreme Court suspended those sentences and granted the couple bail on 17 September, but they were arrested again the same day in connection with a case over a protest in March 2025, in which they were accused of chanting anti-government slogans and blocking roads. They have since been held in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail. In statements recorded during the trial, the couple described themselves as "prisoners of conscience" who had faced state persecution. Chattha told Dawn News he was "being punished for not only supporting my wife's work and activism, but for choosing this path of resisting injustice as our life journey together". The couple had earlier said they were "being made an example" to deepen a chilling effect on those who stand against "tyranny, oppression, and injustice". Amnesty International criticised the proceedings, saying the couple were denied an open and fair trial. The organisation also raised concerns that the trial was moved inside the prison, where Mazari and Chattha were kept behind a cage-like structure during hearings. "These convictions are an indictment of Pakistan's justice system," said Yasmine Ahmed, Amnesty's senior director for regional human rights impact. She said the pair were "being targeted solely because of their refusal to stop their fearless human rights work and for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly". Mazari and Chattha have represented activists, journalists and marginalised communities subjected to enforced disappearances. Mazari's mother, Shireen Mazari, served as human rights minister in the government of former prime minister Imran Khan. The couple's convictions have drawn sustained criticism from international human rights organisations, which have raised concerns about the treatment of lawyers and activists in Pakistan.