Pakistan rights activist Imaan Mazari and husband jailed for 10 years

Key Points:

• An antiterrorism court in Pakistan sentenced human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha to 10 years in prison for allegedly endangering the security of the England and Wales Cricket team by removing road barriers in Islamabad in October 2024.
• The couple denied the charges, calling themselves prisoners of conscience and claiming they were targeted for their human rights activism; their defense argued the case was meant to intimidate those opposing tyranny and injustice.
• Relatives and human rights organizations criticized the trial as unfair, with Mazari’s mother calling it a sham without due process, and Amnesty International condemning the verdict as politically motivated and an abuse of the justice system.
• The couple had been previously sentenced to 17 years under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act for social media posts, but those sentences were suspended by the Supreme Court; however, they were immediately re-arrested in the security breach case.
• Pakistan’s law minister maintains the judiciary’s independence, but critics argue the legal system is being weaponized to silence dissent and punish human rights defenders.