Human rights lawyer couple sentenced to 10 years' prison in Pakistan
Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha were charged over an incident in 2024, when England's cricket team was touring Pakistan.
Human rights lawyer couple sentenced to 10 years' prison in Pakistan
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has handed human rights lawyer Imaan Mazari and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha 10-year prison terms over an alleged security breach during a cricket tour in 2024.
The pair were accused of taking down road barriers and hindering police officers in Islamabad, allegations both have rejected.
Mazari and Chattha had previously received sentences of up to 17 years in prison over social media posts critical of the military.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court suspended those sentences in August, but police rearrested the couple before they could be freed. They have spent the past several months in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail.
The latest case relates to an incident on 25 October 2024, while England’s cricket team was touring Pakistan.
Prosecutors said Mazari and Chattha removed barriers from a road set aside 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, along with additional one-year and two-year terms for obstructing and using force against public servants. All of the sentences will run concurrently.
The court also imposed a fine of 200,000 Pakistani Rupees on each of them (£541:$723).
In statements recorded during the trial, the couple described themselves as “prisoners of conscience” who had suffered state persecution.
“I am 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,” Chatta said in his statement 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 case, saying the couple were denied an open and fair trial.
“These convictions are an indictment of Pakistan’s justice system.” said Yasmine Ahmed, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Regional Human Rights Impact.
“Imaan and Hadi are 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.”
The group also expressed concern that the trial had been moved inside the prison, where Mazari and Chattha were kept behind a cage-like structure during hearings.
The couple have faced multiple 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 critical of the military.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court suspended those sentences and granted them bail on 17 September - but they were arrested again that same day in connection with another case over a protest in March 2025, in which they were accused of chanting “anti-government slogans” and “blocking roads”.