• Couple is already serving combined 17-year sentence over social media posts
• Amnesty terms jailing of rights activists ‘indictment of Pakistan’s justice system’
ISLAMABAD: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday sentenced human rights lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and her husband, Hadi Ali Chattha, to 10 years in prison each in a security breach case.
The couple was tried in jail over a 2024 case pertaining to the alleged disruption of an international cricket team’s security route and incitement to public unrest.
The two, who were accused of removing barriers along the route, were indicted on Oct 7. The trial formally commenced after both pleaded not guilty. They had been granted bail in the case before the verdict.
Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra announced the verdict at Adiala jail, where the trial was held.
The sentence was handed down under three separate legal provisions. According to the judgement, seen by Dawn, the couple was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined Rs100,000 each under Section 7(h) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, read with Section 6(2)(m), which covers serious coercion or intimidation of a public servant to compel them to perform, or refrain from performing, their lawful duties.
The court also sentenced each of them to one year in prison and imposed a fine of Rs50,000 under Section 186 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which deals with obstructing a public servant in the discharge of public functions.
They were also sentenced to two years in prison each under Section 353 of the PPC, which relates to assault or criminal force used to deter a public servant from performing their duty.
All sentences will run concurrently, the judgement stated.
Judge Sipra held that the two were “jointly responsible for the offence committed under joint object and common intention”. He said their objective was to “compromise the security arrangements through pressuring security officials”.
While acknowledging that freedom of movement was a constitutional right, the court held that the right was subject to observance of the law and that “nobody is allowed to attack/assault” law enforcement agencies.
Citing the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, the judgement said the assault on police personnel and the attempt to “put the security of an international team visiting Pakistan at risk” showed the accused persons’ intention to “create sense of terror”.
The court observed that the two were well-educated and fully aware of the sensitivity of the matter, but had assaulted police officials deployed to ensure security.
Meanwhile, the couple was acquitted of charges under Sections 506(ii), 120-B, 148 and 149 of the PPC, relating to criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy, rioting while armed with a deadly weapon, and liability for offences committed by members of an unlawful assembly. The court had appointed a state counsel to defend the couple. State counsel Atif Mehmood cross-examined witnesses during the trial, while the prosecution presented seven witnesses.
The couple is already serving a prison sentence. On Jan 24 this year, an Islamabad sessions court sentenced them to a combined 17 years in prison under Peca.
The prosecution targeted social media posts published by the couple between 2021 and 2025, which authorities labelled “anti-state” and accused them of inciting ethnic hatred regarding issues in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
In their statements recorded under Section 342 of the CrPC, the couple had denied the charges and alleged that they were being targeted for their human rights work and provision of pro bono legal assistance and services to the marginalised and oppressed communities.
“The evidence produced during this trial is not against us, but in fact a charge sheet against [prosecution witnesses]/police officials and the state,” they said in their separate recorded statements.
“I am a prisoner of conscience who has been at the receiving end of state persecution,” the statements read.
Reacting to the sentencing, Amnesty International’s Senior Director for Regional Human Rights Impact Yasmine Ahmed called the convictions an “indictment of Pakistan’s justice system”.
“This was not just Imaan and Hadi on trial, it was a test of the judiciary’s ability to uphold the principles of justice and the right to fair trial,” she said in a post on X.
Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2026
