Pakistan court jails rights lawyers for 10 years

A Pakistani court sentenced human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha to 10 years in prison on Thursday under anti-terrorism legislation.

The husband and wife had faced accusations of removing security barriers during a visit by the England cricket team to Islamabad.

Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra found that putting the team’s security at risk showed an intention and objective to create a sense of terror, according to a copy of the court judgment obtained by AFP.

The defendants denied the allegations. The judgment said they argued they had been targeted for their human rights and legal work and were being made an example of to discourage others who oppose injustice.

The couple were arrested in October 2024 over the barrier allegations and later released. They were arrested again in January 2026 and sentenced to 17 years in prison in a separate case involving social media posts. The Supreme Court suspended those sentences in September, but police rearrested them hours later on separate charges.

After that rearrest, Human Rights Watch urged Pakistan to stop using criminal prosecutions to punish lawyers engaged in peaceful dissent and called for their release. Amnesty International called the rearrest a “terrible injustice” and said the charges were “not only absurd but an insult to their lifelong commitment to human rights.”