Human rights lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chattha have challenged their 10-year prison sentences in the Islamabad High Court, filing appeals against the anti-terrorism court convictions handed down to them last week in the barriers removal case.
The appeals were filed on Friday, 6 November 2026, eight days after the couple were sentenced on 29 October. Their defence team — senior counsel Faisal Siddiqui, Riasat Ali Azad and Zainab Janjua — has asked the high court to set aside the convictions, which the couple have maintained from the start were the result of a flawed trial.
The case has drawn attention far beyond Pakistan’s courtrooms. International human rights organisations condemned the sentences within hours of the verdict, and a joint statement by civil society groups followed on the same day the appeals were filed, calling the proceedings politically motivated and unfair.
The appeal filed on Friday
Mazari and Chattha moved the Islamabad High Court on Friday challenging the sentences imposed in the barrier removal case, according to reports in The Express Tribune and The Frontier Post. Both outlets reported the filing on 6 November, with the Frontier Post naming the three lawyers acting for the couple.
The appeals target the conviction itself, not just the length of the sentences. Before the verdict was announced, the defence had asked the trial court to hold off, arguing that petitions were still pending before the Supreme Court and the Islamabad High Court — including an application seeking transfer of the case. The trial court went ahead anyway, a point the defence is expected to press before the high court.
The couple have been in custody since their arrest in January 2026 in a separate matter, and the new appeals are the latest step in a legal fight that has now spread across three courts: the trial court, the high court and the Supreme Court.
The sentence under challenge
On 29 October 2026, an anti-terrorism court sentenced Mazari and Chattha to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment each under Section 7(h) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, along with a fine of Rs100,000 each. The verdict was announced at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where the trial had been held, by Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra.
The court also sentenced each of them to two years under Section 353 of the Pakistan Penal Code, for assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from duty, and one year under Section 186, for obstructing a public servant — with fines of Rs50,000 under each provision. All the sentences run concurrently, so the effective term is the 10-year anti-terrorism sentence, with total fines of Rs200,000 each.
The couple had approached the Supreme Court on 26 October, three days before the verdict, challenging the high court’s 19 October order refusing to stay the trial. They argued that continuing the proceedings would make their pending high court application ineffective. The Supreme Court petition was not heard before the trial court announced its decision.
The case behind the conviction
The case goes back to October 2024, when the England cricket team was touring Pakistan. Prosecutors said the couple removed security barriers placed on a road in Islamabad during the team’s movement, leading to a confrontation with traffic police. The charges included serious coercion or intimidation of a public servant, obstructing a public servant and assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from duty.
Mazari and Chattha denied the charges in statements recorded before the court, saying they were being targeted for their human rights work and for providing free legal help to marginalised people. In statements seen by Reuters, they described themselves as “prisoners of conscience”. Shireen Mazari, Imaan’s mother and a former human rights minister, called the trial a “sham” and said the couple had not been allowed to be represented by their own lawyer or given key legal documents.
The defence had also complained about the pace of the trial, saying prosecution witnesses were examined in a single day and that the couple were not physically present when the charges were framed and had not received copies of the relevant documents.
A separate case, kept apart
The barriers case is not the only case against the couple, and the two should not be confused. In January 2026, a sessions court in Islamabad sentenced them to a combined 17 years each under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) over social media posts that prosecutors said were anti-state — 10 years under Section 10, five years under Section 9 and two years under Section 26-A, with fines of Rs36 million each.
On 17 September 2026, the Supreme Court suspended those sentences and granted the couple bail. But they were re-arrested the same day in the anti-terrorism case, before they could be released. Their appeals against the PECA conviction are separately pending before the Islamabad High Court, which has issued notices to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency. Because the PECA sentences are suspended, the 10-year anti-terrorism term is not added to them.
Reaction abroad, and what happens next
The sentences drew swift international condemnation. On 6 November, the same day the appeals were filed, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) published a joint statement by international civil society organisations working on the protection of lawyers and human rights defenders, condemning the sentencing and alleging politically motivated persecution and violations of international fair trial standards. Amnesty International said the proceedings had failed to uphold the right to a fair trial.
The appeals will now come up before the Islamabad High Court, which will decide whether to admit them and whether to suspend the sentences while they are heard. No hearing date has been reported yet. For the couple, who have spent much of the year in custody across two cases, the high court is now the forum where the 10-year sentences will stand or fall.
Read also: Imaan Mazari, Hadi Ali Chattha sentenced to 10 years
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