A Pakistani anti-terrorism court yesterday sentenced prominent human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, to 10 years in prison in a security breach case, her family said.
The judge announced the verdict at Adiala Jail, where the couple have been held since earlier this year.
The court also imposed additional sentences of one year and two years on the couple on separate charges of obstructing and assaulting government servants. The sentences will run concurrently.
Mazari, who has won international recognition for speaking out against the disappearances of political activists and for defending minorities and journalists, and Chattha have drawn support from rights groups that have condemned their imprisonment.
The couple were accused of endangering an international cricket team’s security plans by staging a protest and blocking a road in a 2024 case.
In statements, they denied the charges. “We are prisoners of conscience,” they said, adding that they were being targeted for their human rights work.
Pakistan’s law minister, Azam Nazeer Tarar, has repeatedly said the country’s judiciary is independent. Mazari’s mother, Shireen Mazari, who served a minister in jailed former prime minister Imran Khan’s cabinet, said Mazari was not permitted to defend themselves through her own lawyer and not provided with key legal documents.
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