Pakistan court jails lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha for 10 years
Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra found that the couple endangered England’s visiting cricket team and intended to create a sense of terror. Their family plans to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
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Pakistan’s antiterrorism court convicted human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha of terrorism over the removal of road barriers protecting England’s visiting cricket team and sentenced each to 10 years in prison. Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra announced the verdict on 29 October 2026, after a trial inside Adiala prison in Rawalpindi.
The case arose from a confrontation with traffic police in Islamabad on 25 October 2024. Police had installed the barriers to secure the cricket team’s movement along the road.
In the judgment obtained by AFP and described in Al Jazeera’s October 29 account, Sipra found that the couple put the team’s security at risk. He said this “clearly shows the intentions and objective of the accused to create a sense of terror”. The judgment also described the breach as “a very common nature ordinary type of incident apparently of removal of a barrier”.
The convictions and prison terms
The couple pleaded not guilty when indicted on 7 October. The court subsequently heard 7 prosecution witnesses and reserved its verdict on 27 October.
The Express Tribune published details of the court order setting out the penalties below. The prison terms run concurrently—at the same time—rather than being added together.
| Conviction | Prison term | Fine in Pakistani rupees | Additional imprisonment for nonpayment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acts of terrorism: Anti-Terrorism Act Section 7(h), as defined under Section 6(2)(m) | 10 years | 100,000 | 6 months |
| Obstructing a public servant: Pakistan Penal Code Section 186 | 1 year | 50,000 | 1 month |
| Assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from performing a duty: Pakistan Penal Code Section 353 | 2 years | 50,000 | 3 months |
Front Line Defenders said the court acquitted the couple of criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy and rioting as members of an unlawful assembly.
The lawyers deny the charges
Front Line Defenders describes Mazari’s legal work as including cases of enforced disappearance, extrajudicial killing, arbitrary arrest and abuse in custody, and says Chattha has represented people facing false blasphemy cases and victims of sexual violence and enforced disappearance, and has worked on death-row prisoners’ cases.
In statements seen by Reuters, Mazari and Chattha denied the charges, called themselves “prisoners of conscience” and said they were being targeted for their human rights work.
Imaan’s mother, Shireen Mazari, a former human rights minister, alleged that the couple were denied their chosen lawyer and key legal documents. She described the proceedings to Reuters as a “sham trial without any due process”.
Amnesty International called the convictions “an indictment of Pakistan’s justice system”, saying the judiciary had failed a fair-trial test and that terrorism charges were being used to punish the couple’s human rights advocacy. Pakistan’s law minister, Azam Nazeer Tarar, has repeatedly said the country’s judiciary is independent.
Earlier sentences were suspended
The couple were taken into custody on 23 January 2026, in a case concerning social-media posts. The following day, a lower court sentenced each to 17 years under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.
Front Line Defenders said Pakistan’s Supreme Court suspended those sentences and ordered their release on bail on 17 September 2026. Police rearrested the couple that day. Al Jazeera linked that rearrest to the security-breach case; Front Line Defenders instead said they were rearrested inside prison before release in a protest case registered on 22 March 2025.
Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for South Asia, Babu Ram Pant, described the rearrest as politically motivated punishment for the lawyers’ human rights work and accused the authorities of using the legal system against critical voices.
Shireen Mazari said the defense plans to petition the Supreme Court against the road-barrier verdict.
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