Pakistan Court Jails Rights Couple for 10 Years in Security Case

Islamabad: Pakistan's anti-terrorism court on Thursday ordered that human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha each serve 10 years in prison in a case involving a security breach.

According to local media, the case concerns alleged security lapses linked to a visit by an international cricket team to Pakistan in October 2024. The case was lodged at the Aabpara police station in Islamabad, where the couple was accused of meddling in state matters and endangering national security.

The court sentenced both under several provisions. Section 353 of the Pakistan Penal Code carries two years in prison and a fine of 50,000 Pakistani rupees. Section 186 brings one year in prison and another 50,000 rupees in fines.

For violations under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, the court imposed 10 years in prison and a fine of one lakh Pakistani rupees on each of them.

The judge directed that all sentences run concurrently, so the total term for each is 10 years.

The defence had sought a delay in delivering the verdict. It argued that related petitions were still pending before the Supreme Court and the Islamabad High Court. Lawyer Aemal Mandokhail said the lower court could not legally pronounce judgment while those higher-court applications were being considered.

Imaan and Hadi have called the case harassment and say it is retaliation for their human rights and legal work. They told the court that the material put before it was, in their view, a case against government officials and state institutions rather than against them.

The couple accused authorities of targeting them for their advocacy on behalf of marginalised communities, street vendors, people wrongly accused under blasphemy laws, and victims of enforced disappearances.

“We are prisoners being tortured by the state,” the couple said in their statement.

Their case has drawn attention beyond Pakistan, with several rights bodies expressing alarm over their arrest and detention. Last month, 15 international organisations, among them the International Federation for Human Rights and the World Organisation Against Torture, issued a joint statement voicing grave concern over their ongoing detention.