Pakistani human rights lawyers sentenced over social media posts ^{CEFR B2}

On 24 January 2026, human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha were sentenced to 17 years in prison. Prosecutors say the case concerned tweets and reposts from 2021 to 2025 that alleged military abuses in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency filed a complaint on 12 August 2025. The court indicted the couple on 30 October 2025 under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), citing Sections 9, 10, 11 and 26A. Section 10 addresses cyber terrorism and Section 26A criminalizes spreading information deemed harmful to national security. Evidence in court reportedly included screenshots, reposts of tweets and witness statements, and four prosecution witnesses gave testimony.

The defence said lawyers were denied adequate time to cross-examine witnesses and were not given full access to the case files. The couple were arrested on 23 January 2026 as they drove to court despite protective bail from the Islamabad High Court; they allege officers used force and they later boycotted the final sentencing hearing. The judge delivered the verdict in under a minute.

PECA, introduced in 2016 to fight cybercrime, has been described by critics as vague and open to misuse. The Islamabad High Court previously raised constitutional concerns about applying PECA to journalists and ordered guidelines that were never implemented. Reports have documented other cases and summonses under PECA involving journalists and activists. International and legal groups condemned the sentence: Amnesty International called it "an alarming misuse of the justice system," Human Rights Watch said it "sends a chilling message," and the UN Human Rights Office and the European Union described the ruling as judicial persecution and apparent weaponization of the justice system. Pakistani officials rejected the criticism as an internal affair.