They said the exercise of freedom of expression should never be confused with criminal behavior, especially terrorism
Lawyer and human rights activist Imaan Mazari and her husband, lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha. PHOTO: EXPRESS
UN experts on Wednesday expressed alarm over the sentencing of lawyers and human rights defenders Imaan Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha on multiple criminal charges.
The two were convicted in Islamabad last month in connection with alleged posts and reposts on X that investigators described as “anti-state”. The case was registered in August 2025 by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) under the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act (PECA) 2016, with allegations that the content was intended to undermine government institutions and align with proscribed organizations or individuals.
The verdicts were widely condemned by the legal community, politicians and civil society.
Today, five UN Special Rapporteurs issued a statement highlighting that the couple were sentenced to long prison terms for “simply exercising rights guaranteed by international human rights law”.
The statement said that “lawyers, like other individuals, have a right to freedom of expression. The exercise of this right should never be confused with criminal behavior, especially not terrorism.”
They emphasized the “broad and vague definition of terrorism-related offences” under the country’s counter-terrorism framework and said the above exercise “risks undermining and criminalizing the work of lawyers and human rights defenders across Pakistan and has a chilling effect on civil society in the country”.
The experts noted that the verdicts were not the first prosecutions against the two lawyers, adding that they had been the subject of 10 criminal complaints since 2022, some of which are still pending. They pointed out that the pair had never previously been convicted of misdemeanors.
“This pattern of prosecutions suggests an arbitrary use of the justice system as a tool of harassment and intimidation to punish them for their work defending victims of alleged human rights violations,” the statement said.
It added that “States must ensure that lawyers are not subject to prosecution for any professional act and that lawyers are not identified with their clients.”
The experts also pointed out that the case against the two lawyers was “moving at a worrying speed” and said the couple “reportedly had insufficient time” to prepare their defence.
“They also encountered obstacles in accessing counsel of their choice and evidence was taken from prosecution witnesses in their absence,” the experts further noted.
They concluded that international standards provided a set of procedural guarantees to be made available to persons charged with a criminal offence, “but these appear to have been undermined in this case”.
The statement said the aforementioned “violations seriously threaten the fairness of the trial and conviction”, adding that the experts had contacted the Pakistani authorities regarding their concerns.
Uman rights group Amnesty International had issued an urgent appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif calling for the couple’s immediate and unconditional release.
In a model letter written to the prime minister, Amnesty described the circumstances of their arrest and conviction, saying they were “targeted solely for their advocacy and work defending human rights in the country”.
It said their trial was conducted with “unusual haste”, adding that they were “consistently denied the right to cross-examine witnesses and bring evidence against them”.
The couple were arrested on January 23 near the underpass outside Serena Hotel while traveling to the district courts and later sent to 14-day custody by an anti-terrorism court.
A district and sessions court later sentenced both to a combined 17 years’ rigorous imprisonment each: five years under PECA Section 9 (plus a fine of Rs 5 million), 10 years under Section 10 (plus Rs 30 million) and two years under Section 26-A (plus Rs1 million), with further imprisonment in case of non-payment. The judge also acquitted them of the PECA charge of hate speech under Section 11, saying the prosecution’s witnesses did not support that claim.
Read more: Imaan Mazari claims ill-treatment as court hears tweet case via video link
During the trial conducted via video link, Mazari alleged ill-treatment in custody and announced a boycott of the hearing. The judge noted that the pair were already in custody in another case and said they would remain in jail to serve their sentences, with credit for time spent in custody under Section 382-B of the Criminal Procedure Code.
