An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari-Hazir and her husband Hadi Ali Chattha to 10 years in prison, in a case arising from an incident at a road closure in Islamabad in October 2024. The verdict was announced on 29 October at a trial held inside Adiala prison in Rawalpindi.

Human Rights Watch said the couple were accused of obstructing police at the road closure, and that police charged them under the anti-terrorism act, which carries far heavier penalties than an ordinary criminal charge. Reuters, reporting the family's account, said the case concerned a protest and road blockage said to have endangered an international cricket team's security plans. Additional sentences on separate charges will run concurrently with the 10-year terms.

A case with a longer history

The couple were arrested on 23 January in a separate case over social media posts prosecutors described as anti-state, and a sessions court sentenced each to 17 years the next day under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act. On 17 September, the Supreme Court suspended those sentences and ordered release on bail, but police rearrested them hours later in the security-breach case now decided.

On 30 September, United Nations human rights experts called for their immediate release, saying successive proceedings appeared intended to punish them for their views and advocacy. Human Rights Watch has urged the authorities to quash the convictions and end proceedings it describes as aimed at punishing rights advocates.

What happens next

The family has said it will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. Until an appeal succeeds, the 10-year sentences stand. The outcome also raises a broader question about anti-terrorism charges in cases that begin as public-order incidents.