Pakistan sentences human rights activist to 17 years over anti-state posts

By Asif Shahzad

ISLAMABAD, Jan 24 (Reuters) – A Pakistani court on Saturday convicted a human rights activist and lawyer, Imaan Mazari and her husband on charges of anti-state social media posts, handing them sentences totalling 17 years, a court order said.

“The prosecution has been able to prove its case,” said the court order seen by Reuters.

Mazari, a vocal critic of Pakistan’s powerful military, and her husband were convicted on three counts and sentenced to five-year, 10-year and two-year jail terms that will run concurrently, the court said.

Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, who is also a lawyer, have previously denied the charges, saying they were being persecuted for raising their voice against disappearances of nationalist activists, which they blamed on the military, a charge the army denies.

Human rights groups have questioned the trial, raising concerns over shrinking space for civil rights, freedom of speech and political dissent in the nation of 240 million.

The charges under Pakistan’s controversial cyber crime laws are linked to their social media posts from the period between 2021 and 2025, which the court said furthered the agenda of anti-state militants and portrayed the military as being involved in terrorism.

Responding to Saturday’s court decision, Shireen Mazari, the activist’s mother and a minister in the cabinet of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, said the conviction was illegal without giving defence a chance to present its case.

(Reporting by Asif ShahzadEditing by Tomasz Janowski)