New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) Many academicians and scholars of Pakistani origin, working in the universities of United States and the United Kingdom have raised their voices regarding detention of human rights lawyers Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir and Hadi Ali Chattha in Pakistan.
They have demanded the withdrawal of charges against both lawyers and their immediate release from police custody.
Dubbing this as a serious issue concerning freedom of expression and the rule of law, several professors and educationists have called for the withdrawal of charges against the lawyers and called for their immediate release from detention.
The list of signatories, in support of the two lawyers, criticised the Pakistani establishment for conspiring and plotting to put them in jail despite Supreme Court setting them free.
The two lawyers were reportedly sentenced to 17 years in prison in January 2026 under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) over social media posts, critical of alleged rights abuses.
The academicians said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended their sentences and granted them bail on September 17, 2026, but police took them into custody within hours in a separate case.
The lawyers are said to be currently under detention.
According to a report in Dawn, the academics said Mazari had spoken out against enforced disappearances, represented victims and their families, and publicly challenged the establishment while Chattha had defended people facing blasphemy charges and represented prisoners on death row.
“Criminal law must not become a weapon for silencing dissent or intimidating lawyers for their advocacy,” the statement said.
According to the signatories, Pakistan, as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, was obligated to protect the right to criticise state institutions.
“They said a 17-year sentence for social media commentary was inconsistent with that obligation, citing the position taken by international legal bodies, including the International Commission of Jurists,” the daily reported.
They have also urged the federal government, judiciary and other state institutions to fulfil Pakistan’s constitutional and international legal obligations and ensure that the two lawyers were not subjected to further arbitrary detention.
Some of the noted signatories included Ayesha Siddiqa of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Fahd Hamayun of Tufts University, Hashim bin Rashid of the University of Pennsylvania, Maria Rashid of the University of Wolverhampton, Raza Rumi of the City University of New York, Reem Khurshid of University College London, Yunus Samad of the University of Bradford and Zoha Waseem of the University of Warwick.
–IANS
mr/khz
